The pound dropped on Thursday, weighed down by ongoing chaos in Brexit proceedings, dealers said.

London's stock market rose, however, buoyed by the weaker currency.

Eurozone markets, having enjoyed modest gains earlier in the session, slipped towards the close as Wall Street gave up its opening gains as worries about economic growth weighed on sentiment.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will renew attempts to push through her Brexit plan on Friday, after she dramatically offered to quit to save her deal and MPs failed in their own bid to break the deadlock.

"The pound has remained under pressure today," said XTB analyst David Cheetham.

"The decline has been fairly steady and not too dramatic in its nature, but the move could well gather momentum in the next few days if the current political impasse shows no sign of abating with no-deal prospects seemingly being resurrected," Cheetham said.

Sterling's fall against the dollar exceeded one percent by the late European trading day, and the currency lost around 0.8 percent against the euro.

- 'No clear way out' -

Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex, said there was "no clear way out of the Brexit labyrinth in sight".

Meanwhile top Chinese and US negotiators held their latest round of trade talks in Beijing, with hopes the two economic superpowers can find a deal to end their long-running tariffs row.

Investors took heart from reports of "US/China trade progress on significant structural issues", analysts at Charles Schwab said.

Earlier Thursday, Asian stock markets were gripped by volatility as investors grow increasingly worried about the state of the global economy, sending them rushing to haven assets and fuelling talk of possible recession.

Tokyo's main stocks index sank 1.6 percent, with exporters hit by a jump in the haven yen currency, while Shanghai shed almost one percent.

After a stellar start to the year, equities are beginning to stumble with closely watched sovereign bond yields -- key indicators of the state of the economy -- flashing a warning.

The yields on government bonds, considered a watertight investment in times of turmoil and uncertainty, have tumbled around the world while central banks are becoming more dovish on their outlooks.

This is most notable in the United States, where the Federal Reserve has lowered its rate hike expectations and 10-year Treasury bond yields are below those of three-month notes.

The last time this happened was before the 2008 global financial crisis.

- Key figures around 1640 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 7,234.33 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.1 percent at 11,428.16 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.1 percent at 5,296.54 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,320.29

New York - Dow: FLAT at 25,628.58

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.6 percent at 21,033.76 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.2 percent at 28,775.21 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.9 percent at 2,994.94 (close)

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3069 from $1.3189 at 2100 GMT

Euro/pound: UP at 85.87 pence from 85.26 pence

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1224 from $1.1217

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 110.78 yen from 110.51 yen

Oil - Brent Crude: DOWN 74 cents at $66.50 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 58 cents at $58.82 per barrel.afp