London - European shares steadied in thin trading on Monday, with the prospect of a US interest rate hike coming sooner rather than later prompting investors to avoid strong bets.
US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said late on Friday that the central bank should raise interest rates “in the coming months” if the economy picks up as expected and jobs continue to be generated, bolstering the case for a rate increase in June or July.
Read: Dollar rises on rate-hike bets
The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index was flat by 07h10 GMT, while Germany's DAX was up 0.07 percent and France's CAC fell 0.1 percent.
Trading volumes were expected to be thin as the London and New York markets are closed for a public holiday.
Dutch mail operator PostNL rose 5 percent following Belgian rival BPost's failed attempt to take over the company. The two companies said late on Friday they had discussed a friendly public offer by BPost for all of the shares of PostNL, but had eventually failed to agree terms for a deal.
REUTERS