European stocks opened slightly down on Friday and struggled to recoup gains after the assassination of Japan's former prime minister triggered a sell-off in Asian markets. At the same time, investors awaited crucial U.S. employment data later in the morning.

Analysts attributed the bullish investor attitude early in the session to efforts by U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers to alleviate recession fears and reports of Chinese fiscal stimulus.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller termed recession fears "overblown," while St. Louis Fed Bank President James Bullard said he saw a "good chance" of a soft landing for the economy. As a result, U.S. indexes closed higher on Thursday.

After word that Shinzo Abe was in critical condition after being shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election, Asian stocks surrendered some of their gains, and the Japanese currency strengthened.

Abe resigned in 2020, citing ill health, but he remains a prominent figure inside the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), commanding one of the party's key factions.

Guillaume Paillat, multi-asset portfolio manager at Aviva Investors, stated that the longer-term impact of the shooting on markets was uncertain, adding that he did not believe it would affect Japan's elections this weekend.

At 0751 GMT, the MSCI world equity index, which monitors shares in 50 nations, was down 0.1% daily but poised for a weekly gain of 1.4% overall.

Europe's STOXX 600 increased by 0.1 percent, France's CAC 40 increased by 0.2 percent, and Germany's DAX decreased by 0.1 percent.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific equities excluding Japan was still up 0.3% but had retreated from an 8-day high reached earlier in the session.

Upon hearing the news of Abe's assassination, the Japanese yen surged as much as 0.5 percent before stabilizing around 135.835.

U.S. non-farm payroll statistics will be released later in the day, representing the most recent barometer of the health of the U.S. economy. The consensus forecast for employment creation in May is 268 thousand.

Paul Donovan, the chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, wrote in a note to clients, "Employment matters because job security underpins the economic recovery,"

"Today's data should show some slowdown in job creation, but the payrolls and hours worked numbers have recently remained completely inconsistent with any idea of a recession."

The dollar index increased by 0.6% on the day before the data release, reaching its highest level since 2002.

Following the resignation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, the pound fell 0.7% against the stronger dollar. ING analysts stated that markets likely welcomed the change in leadership, but it was too early to determine the pound's reaction.

The euro's price was $1.00895. Investors are concerned that an energy crisis caused by the unpredictability of Russia's gas supply could cause the continent to enter a recession.

"Europe is still maybe on the back foot because of the uncertainty around the energy issue," said Paillat of Aviva.

Germany's benchmark 10-year bond yielded 1.275 percent, two basis points lower than the U.S. yield of 2.9798 percent.

The portion of the Treasury yield curve between two and ten years inverted on Tuesday for the first time in three weeks. An inversion in this segment of the yield curve is viewed as a reliable predictor that a recession will occur within the next one to two years.

Brent crude futures and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were weekly losses.