European bourses opened on a cautious note on Wednesday despite gains on Wall Street and in Asia as investors await a US Federal reserve meeting and assess the political implications of Donald Trump's setback in a bitter Senate election in Alabama.

The pan-European STOXX 600 slipped 0.1 per cent with Paris, Frankfurt and London trading in negative territory.

“Last night's new US records aren't expected to translate through to this morning's open in Europe, where the underlying sentiment is likely to be caution ahead of today's Fed meeting and tomorrow's Swiss National Bank, Bank of England and European Central Bank rate meetings", CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said before markets opened.

Swedish builder NCC posted the worst performance of the index, falling more than 8 per cent after it warned on Wednesday its operating earnings for the fourth quarter would be "close to zero". Supermarket group Colruyt followed with a 3.7 per cent fall after Barclays cut its target price for the stock.

There was also disappointment at the earnings of Aurubis , Europe's biggest copper smelter, which slid 2.2 per cent. Zara fashion chain owner Inditex rose by almost 4 per cent after reporting net profit to September of 2.3 billion euros, a 6 per cent gain.

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