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Stocks in Europe and Asia mostly drifted lower Thursday, following modest losses on Wall Street.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.8% in the early minutes of trading, with declines concentrated in the mining, auto and health-care sectors.

Health-care shares fell in Europe after political pressure to tamp down drug prices pushed biotechnology stocks lower Wednesday in the U.S.

The bulk of market attention, however, was focused on the Federal Reserve's annual Jackson Hole meeting, set to start later Thursday. Chairwoman Janet Yellen is due to give a speech on Friday, and while little direction on interest rates is expected, investors will be watching for any clues on the course of monetary policy or her assessment of the U.S. economy.

Trading in Asia was mostly softer. Shares in Shanghai shed 0.6%, even as China's central bank put more cash into the system through 14-day reverse repurchase agreements, which are effectively a loan to commercial banks. Australia's S&P ASX 200 fell 0.4% following recent declines in commodities prices.

Brent crude oil was last down 0.1% at $49.01 a barrel, after dropping for three of the past four sessions.

Shen Hong contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 25, 2016 04:35 ET (08:35 GMT)

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