|
 ECB President Mario Draghi was scheduled to hold a news conference
at 0830 ET and was expected by some to signal readiness to take
further steps to stimulate the euro zone economy.
Wall Street was likely to follow Europe higher, stock index futures
indicated.
Worries that global economic growth is slowing, particularly in
China, have depressed stock and commodity markets across the world
in recent months and prompted a series of downgrades to economic
forecasts from the International Monetary Fund and others.
This, in turn, has raised expectations that some central banks,
including those of China and Japan, will take further measures to
stimulate their economies.
The ECB, as widely expected, took no new steps on Thursday, but some
in markets were looking for Draghi to signal that it could extend
its 1 trillion euro bond-buying quantitative easing scheme if
necessary.
"Watch out for hints of broader QE and whether further interest rate
cuts may have been discussed," said Commerzbank rates strategist
Rainer Guntermann. "Yet, the bar for a dovish surprise is high."
BOOST FROM ROCHE
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 stocks index rose 0.1 percent,
slightly paring gains after the ECB decision. An increased full-year
sales outlook from Swiss drugmaker Roche helped support the index.
The company's shares were up 1.3 percent.
Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
slipped 0.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei closed down 0.6 percent.
However, China bucked the trend, rebounding from Wednesday's roughly
3 percent dive. The Shanghai Composite index and the CSI300 both
closed up 1.5 percent.
The dollar, which has been losing ground in the past month as
expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this
year have waned, edged up against a basket of currencies.
[to top of second column] |
The euro fell 0.2 percent after the ECB decision, while the dollar
eased 0.1 percent to 119.78 yen.
Euro zone government bonds reflected the wait-and-see mood before
the ECB decision. Benchmark German 10-year Bund yields rose 1 basis
point to 0.58 percent
There was some respite for oil prices, which hit a three-week low on
Wednesday after a larger-than-expected rise in U.S. crude stocks.
Brent, the global benchmark, was last up 78 cents at $48.63 a
barrel.
"We're in a consistent dip and I see it continuing as inventories
tip up and down," said Jasper Lawler, markets analyst at CMC
Markets.
Gold <XAU=> held near its lowest in more than a week, last trading
at $1,168.21 an ounce, having touched $1,165.30 on Wednesday.
(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo, Nichola Saminather
in Singapore and Marius Zaharia and Simon Falush in London; Editing
by Kevin Liffey)
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