LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - European stock futures pointed to a sharply weaker start on Thursday after a poor factory activity survey from China and on concerns the U.S. Federal Reserve could decide to cut its bond purchases in the next few meetings.
At 0601 GMT, futures for Euro STOXX 50 (Zurich: ^STOXX50E - news) , UK's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX (Xetra: ^GDAXI - news) and France's CAC were 1.5 to 1.8 percent lower.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 0.2 percent firmer on Wednesday at 1,256.28 points, the highest close in five years.
