May 31 (Reuters) - European shares had a muted start on Friday ahead of the May inflation reading for the euro zone and an April reading for the United States that will decide the scale and timing of the interest rate cuts globally.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was flat by 7:12 GMT. The benchmark index is on track for a second week of declines but is likely to log gains on a monthly basis.
Investors are squarely focussed on the inflation print from the euro zone at 0900 GMT, which is expected to show a slight uptick in May. A rate cut in June is all but certain next week by the ECB, a Reuters poll showed.
April report on the U.S. core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, will be the main event for investors at 1230 GMT.
JD Sports Fashion dropped 6.7% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after the British sportswear retailer kept profit guidance for its 2024/25 year.
Telecom Italia was also a bottom performer with nearly a 6% fall after U.S. investment firm KKR secured unconditional EU antitrust approval for its up to 22-billion-euro ($24 billion) acquisition of the telecom company's fixed-line network.
IT services firm Capgemini fell 4.3% as JP Morgan cut its rating to neutral from overweight.
(Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
