European shares were seen opening little changed on Wednesday after hitting a 27-month high a day earlier, with investors avoiding strong bets at the tail end of the year, though weaker metals might pressure miners. Futures for Euro STOXX 50 STXEc1 and France's CAC FCEc1 were flat, while Germany's DAX futures FDXc1 rose 0.1 percent. Financial bookmakers earlier predicted Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open flat to down 4 points. Investors will keep an eye on the geopolitical situation after South Korea announced land and sea military exercises on Wednesday including its largest-ever live-fire drill near North Korea in a big show of force. [ID:nTOE6BL01T] Resource-related stocks will be in focus as a fall in key base metals prices might prompt investors to take profits after recent gains. The STOXX Europe 600 basic resources index .SXPP is up more than 12 percent this month. The euro zone debt situation may lead investors to be cautious in year-end trading. Fitch Ratings said late on Tuesday there was a growing probability it would cut Greece's credit rating to junk, highlighting doubts over Athens' ability to pull itself out of the debt crisis. [ID:nLDE6BK1XS] Fitch's warning added to a series of bad news for the euro zone on the rating front as it struggles with its biggest crisis on record, coming on the heels of several downgrades for Ireland and as Spain and Portugal also face the threat of cuts. Technical outlook for European shares looks positive, with the Euro STOXX 50 .STOXX50E, the euro zone's blue-chip index, rising 1.3 percent to 2,876.99 points on Tuesday and staying above its 50-day moving average. It has got support at around 2,838 points -- a 38.2 percent Fibonacci retracement of a major fall to a trough in 2009 from a high in 2007. Japan's Nikkei .N225 inched lower, backing away from a seven-month high hit in the morning session on Wednesday. European shares climbed to their highest since September 2008 on Tuesday, while U.S. stocks rose overnight on solid earnings.
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