*

Flutter names new group CFO, shares slip

*

UK's JD Sports dips on weak first-qtr LFL sales

*

Capgemini down on rating downgrade

*

STOXX 600 up 0.1%

(Updated at 0812 GMT)

By Shubham Batra

May 31 (Reuters) - European shares struggled for

direction on Friday ahead of the May inflation reading for the

euro zone and an April reading for the United States that will

decide the scale and timing of interest rate cuts globally.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.1%, led

by advances in telecommunications and energy shares

up by 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively.

Travel and leisure stocks led the losses with a 1.7%

decline after world's largest online betting firm

Flutter named a new group CFO. The stock slipped 7.8%.

The benchmark index is on track for a second week of

declines as yields in euro zone spiked to mirror their U.S.

counterparts on worries over interest rates staying elevated for

longer. The index, however, is likely to log gains on the month.

Investors are now squarely focussed on the inflation print

from the euro zone at 0900 GMT, which is expected to show a

slight uptick in May. A rate cut by the European Central Bank

(ECB) in June is all but certain next week, a Reuters poll

showed.

The yield on Germany's Bund, the euro zone

benchmark, held steady near six-month highs and was last at

2.669% ahead of the data.

German retail sales fell more than expected in April, while

French consumer prices rose 2.7% year-on-year in May, above

expectations due to higher energy prices.

"We still think EZ (euro zone) headline inflation edged

higher to 2.5%, from 2.4% in April, but risks are tilted towards

2.6% if the Italian HICP (inflation) comes in hot too. The CPI

details were on the softer side, all the same," said Claus

Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

The week's main event will be the April reading of the U.S.

core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index at 1230

GMT which will decide the future of global monetary policy.

In company news, JD Sports Fashion dropped 9.7% to

the bottom of the STOXX 600 after the British sportswear

retailer kept profit guidance for its 2024/25 year.

Telecom Italia was also a bottom performer with

2.5% fall after U.S. investment firm KKR secured

unconditional EU antitrust approval for its up to

22-billion-euro ($24 billion) acquisition of the telecom

company's fixed-line network.

IT services firm Capgemini fell 5.0% as JP Morgan

cut its rating to neutral from overweight.

Energy firm Centrica ( CPYYF ) jumped 3.4% after RBC raised

its rating to outperform from sector perform.