Global stocks held near record highs on Thursday, as recent vaccine progress, Joe Biden's U.S. presidential election victory and hopes for further stimulus kept markets bullish.

Toronto-Dominion Bank said the majority of its employees are unlikely to come back to their workplaces until at least the spring, an internal memo seen by Reuters on Thursday showed, joining rivals Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in delaying a return to work sites.

Berlin is racing to open six mass vaccination centres capable of handling up to 4,000 people per day by mid-December, the project coordinator told Reuters on Thursday, as the city waits for authorities to approve the first vaccines.

Canadian miner Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd said on Thursday hedge fund Odey Asset Management's letter to its majority owner Rio Tinto contained a number of false assumptions and misinformation about the company and its funding plan.

Norway's risk management and quality assurance firm DNV GL has suspended work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project led by Russia's Gazprom for fear of being sanctioned by the United States, it said on Thursday.

Brazil's currency looks to have stopped weakening and is now stabilizing, indicating the upward pressure on inflation from a persistently weak exchange rate this year will dissipate, Roberto Campos Neto, the central bank president, said on Thursday.

* Bank of America, Mediobanca, RCCD to work with Creval - sources

Some 262 oil service workers at Schlumberger's Norwegian unit plan to go on strike from Dec. 3 if annual negotiations with employers over pay and working conditions were to fail, the Safe trade union said on Thursday.

Russian airlines could require additional state funding to help them pay off debts built up as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and a weakening rouble, a central bank report published on Thursday said.

Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd said on Thursday hedge fund Odey Asset Management's letter to its majority owner Rio Tinto contained a number of false assumptions and misinformation about the company and its funding plan.

Car rental firm Europcar , which has been walloped by the coronavirus pandemic along with the travel sector, said on Thursday its creditors had agreed to shrink its debt load by 1.1 billion euros in exchange for shares and control of the firm.

* Government declines to say if it will intervene (Adds government, Equinor comments)

British clothing and food retailer Marks & Spencer has reversed a decision to open over 200 stores on Dec. 26, giving its workforce of more than 70,000 an extended break over the festive period, it said on Thursday.

Canada's main stock index traded flat on Thursday, hovering around nine-month highs as declines in energy stocks were offset by gains in major technology and mining players, while a U.S. market holiday kept trading volumes low.

European dividend futures are stirring from their months-long slumber, reflecting investor expectations that positive COVID-19 vaccine updates on top of trillions of dollars in stimulus will fast-track an anticipated recovery in company profits.