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* Airlines rise as U.S. eases travel warnings
* Miners hit by surge in China producer price
* ECB meeting, U.S. inflation data awaited
(Adds comments, updates prices throughout)
By Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal
June 9 (Reuters) - European stocks remained near record
highs on Wednesday, with investors holding off on taking big
bets ahead of a policy decision from the European Central Bank
and a U.S. inflation reading later this week.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.1%
higher, but stayed just short of a record high of 455.66 hit in
the previous session.
Air France KLM, Lufthansa and British
Airways owner IAG climbed about 3% each after the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was
easing travel recommendations on 110 countries and territories.
The wider travel and leisure index rose 0.9% as many
European economies charted their way out of COVID-19 lockdowns.
Still, worries about rising inflation remained on investors'
minds after data earlier showed China's factory gate prices rose
at their fastest annual pace in over 12 years in May, driven by
surging commodity prices.
Big UK-listed miners such as Rio Tinto, Anglo
American and BHP Group fell more than 2% each,
pulling down London's blue-chip FTSE 100 by 0.2%.
Among other main regional bourses, Germany's DAX
fell 0.4% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.2%.
"Years like 2021 that have enjoyed strong gains for the
first five months of the year don't tend to see much summer
volatility, but instead drift slightly higher until Q4, so if
history is any guide, 2021's quiet nature seems set to
continue," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.
The focus will be on the U.S. consumer prices data on
Thursday, a reading that could influence market expectations on
ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting next week about the
U.S. central bank tapering its massive bond purchases programme.
Despite an economic recovery underway and price pressures
rising, the ECB is likely to say that it will maintain the
current pace of bond purchases at its policy meeting on
Thursday.
"Inflation is creating uncertainty about what central banks
will do or say going forward," said Emmanuel Cau, European
equity strategist at Barclays.
"We think central banks will be patient, but we also believe
that an adjustment in communication about inflation and policy
changes will start in summer."
Spanish retail giant Inditex reversed early gains
made after beating first-quarter net profit expectations. Its
shares were down more than 2.2%.
French food group Danone slipped 0.9% after RBC
downgraded the stock to "underperform".
Oslo-based salmon farmer SalMar fell 5.3% to the
bottom of the STOXX 600 after it completed a private placement
deal.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru;
Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Jonathan Oatis)
