LONDON: European shares, the euro and oil ticked up in choppy trade on Friday as investors braced for a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that could offer clues on the central bank's next policy steps. The riskier assets were largely recovering from modest falls this week ahead of Bernanke's address to the annual Jackson Hole meeting of central bankers, with few in the market expecting the Fed chief to signal anything major, such as a third round of quantitative easing (QE) or bond buying. "We're not expecting him (Bernanke) to announce that QE would start any time soon," Christian Schulz, senior economist at Berenberg Bank. "We expect him to announce that the Fed stands ready to act if things deteriorate but there's no sign of that at the moment," he said. A steady stream of surprisingly good economic data from the United States over the past week in areas such as consumer spending, housing, inflation and employment have raised questions over whether more stimulus is warranted. "I think those people who are betting on QE to start imminently will be disappointed and, yes, that would mean that markets would turn south," Schulz said. The FTSEurofirst index of top European shares recovered from an initial dip at the start of trading on Friday to stand up 0.3 percent 1,081.62 points. MSCI's world equity index was barley changed at 320.5 points, having lost about 1.2 percent this week on signs global economic activity is gradually slowing even as the fragile US recovery gathered some strength. The euro was up 0.1 percent against the dollar at $1.2521. For the last week it has been pegged in a tight range roughly between $1.2465 and $1.26, with market players reluctant to take large positions in the run up to Jackson Hole. The dollar index was down 0.1 percent at 81.607.

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