European shares up 0.1% Asia stocks subdued S&P 500 closed at record high Dec 30 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com YEAR-END STATS: PARIS IN TOP SPOT, MADRID LAST (1120 GMT) It"s been a great year for equities globally and Europe was no exception, having rallied more than 22% this year. A number of uncertainties, from inflation to policy tightening and slowing earnings, is now clouding the outlook for 2022 but investors don"t look in the mood to spoil a very strong run just in the last two trading sessions of the year. Among top benchmarks in Europe, the CAC 40 stands out. The French index made a new lifetime peak this week and with a year to-date bounce of 29% it is almost certain to win the top spot. Following at close distance are Amsterdam"s AEX and Italy"s FTSE MIB, having both outperformed the STOXX 600 regional benchmark with gains in 2021 of 27.5% and 23% respectively. The Swiss index SMI (+20.8%) also hit a new record high this week but has nevertheless slightly underperformed. Germany"s DAX (+15.6%) and the UK"s FTSE (+14.9%) were also left behind, but the clear laggard has been Spain"s IBEX, up just 7.4%. snapshot snapshot (Danilo Masoni) ***** WHAT ABOUT GEOPOLITICAL RISKS? (1044 GMT) Geopolitics is not in the spotlight right now, as the pandemic has been stealing the stage for almost two years. But things might change in the future as Russia has unnerved the West with a troop build-up near Ukraine. According to Jeremy Batstone-Carr from the Raymond James European Strategy Team, any escalation involving China “would surely turn the geopolitical screw to maximum and have significant adverse consequences for global financial markets.” “Beginning in 2016, China has been investing heavily in Ukrainian infrastructure intending to build an alternative route to options passing through Russia and Belarus,” he says. “Chinese companies have, in turn, invested a further billion dollars equivalent in plant and other facilities in Ukraine.” “It seems certain that Russian tanks are not going to sweep into Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, and onward to the Black Sea coast without disrupting Chinese interests.” But, “China can deploy its own troops and equipment to Ukraine at least as fast as any other interested global military power,” he adds. U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak on Thursday, the White House said, as Washington crafts a common response to Russia"s military build-up on the Ukraine border with European allies. read more (Stefano Rebaudo) ***** DEFENSIVES AND TECH LEND SUPPORT TO STOXX (0852 GMT) On the last full trading day of the year in Europe, investors are opting for a defensive allocation with sectors from pharma to tech keeping the STOXX 600 (.STOXX) index anchored above parity. In early deals the pan-European equity benchmark moved between flat and a small gain, and was last up 0.1% with low pre-holiday volumes likely to result in another subdued session as the year end nears. Several European markets from Italy to Germany and Spain will be closed tomorrow, while those including Paris and London will trade for half a session, ahead of the New Year. snapshot snapshot (Danilo Masoni) ***** EUROPE EYES ANOTHER QUIET DAY NEAR PEAKS (0731 GMT) European shares look set for another quiet trading session with main regional benchmarks near or above recent peaks as investors head into 2022 on a cautiously confident mindset. The STOXX 600 (.STOXX) is just a handful of points away from a record high it hit in November, having fully reclaimed the losses related to worries that restrictions to fight Omicron variant could slow down the economy at the turn of the year. Futures on the euro STOXX 50, DAX, FTSE and IBEX indices were last trading between a gain and a fall of around 0.1%, following a subdued session in Asia and the 70th record high close this year for the S&P 500. Global COVID-19 infections hit a record high over the past seven-day period, Reuters data showed, as Omicron raced out of control and governments tried to contain its spread without paralysing fragile economies. read more U.S. stock index futures were last just below parity.