Il Nuovo Postiglione - Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade

"Santa Claus comes tonight, but if stock market participants are lucky he will start sprinkling some gifts today, which marks the official start to the 'Santa Claus Rally' period," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

US stock markets have traditionally fared well in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in the new year, with experts advancing a number of possible reasons as the festive holiday mood and purchasing ahead of the end of the tax year.

Wall Street opened with modest gains, with the Dow essentially flat.

"It looks like Santa Claus's sleigh will be a little slow getting off the ground, but he would be the first to tell you that it isn't how he starts, it's how he finishes," added O'Hare.

There was little news to push trading in the half-day trading session in New York.

Shares in American Airlines fell more than two percent as trading got away after a technical issue forced the world's largest carrier to ground all its US flights for an hour during the busy year-end travel period.

The airline and the Federal Aviation Administration have yet to describe the nature of the technical issue.

In Europe, Paris's CAC 40 closed higher in a pre-holiday short session while Frankfurt was closed all day.

London also closed in the green, despite a week clouded by lacklustre economic data that is "stoking concerns about the UK's slowing momentum heading into the new year," said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets closed up over one percent, as China announced fresh fiscal measures to boost its ailing economy.

On Tuesday, state media reported that China will raise its deficit in order to boost spending next year, as the world's second-largest economy battles sluggish domestic consumption, a property crisis and soaring government debt.

In company news, Honda shares closed more than 12 percent higher after the Japanese auto giant announced a buyback of up to 1.1 trillion yen ($7 billion), as it enters merger talks with struggling rival Nissan.

The talks on collaboration between Honda and Nissan would create the world's third-largest automaker, expanding development of EVs and self-driving tech.

Honda's CEO insisted it was not a bailout for Nissan, which announced thousands of job cuts last month and reported a 93 percent plunge in first-half net profit.

- Key figures around 1430 GMT -

New York - Dow: FLAT at 42,919.12 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 5,983.46

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 19,822.98

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 8,136.99 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,282.69 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: Closed

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 39,036.85 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.1 percent at 20,098.29 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.3 percent at 3,393.53 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0411 from $1.0408 on Monday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2575 from $1.2531

Dollar/yen: UP at 157.20 yen from 157.14 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.79 pence from 83.03 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $70.18 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.2 percent at $73.15 per barrel

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R.Accetta--INP