ROME: European stock markets struggled for direction on Thursday, but ultimately finished higher, as investors shrugged off disappointing economic data out of Germany and dovish comments from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.
After swinging in and out of losses throughout the day, the Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, +0.19% ended 0.2% higher at 361.61. The pan-European benchmark has now closed higher for five straight sessions, its longest since early August, after weak economic readings from the U.S. and Europe have rekindled hopes that monetary policy will remain accommodative for longer.
Central banks: Minutes from the European Central Bank’s Sept. 3 meeting out on Thursday showed the policy makers have seen more pressure on inflation in recent months and acknowledged that the “overall economic situation in the euro area had become more challenging since before the summer.”
The downbeat outlook on inflation was also prevalent in the minutes from the Bank of England, signaling the central bank is ready to keep rates low as long as needed. The BOE left its key lending rate at a record low of 0.5% at its October meeting and made no changes to its 375 billion pound ($574.54 billion) quantitative-easing program.
The pound GBPUSD, +0.1368% erased an earlier gain after the dovish minutes, to trade around $1.5310. That was down from as high as $1.5374 earlier in the day and below the $1.5318 recorded late Wednesday in New York.
The U.S. Fed kept rates at a record low at its September meeting, citing concerns over a slowdown in global growth. The minutes from that meeting will be released at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, or 7 p.m. London time on Thursday, after the European markets close.
Data: German exports slumped 5.2% in August, the steepest decline since January 2009. That means the country’s trade surplus narrowed to 19.6 billion euros ($22.1 billion) from a revised €22.4 billion in July, undershooting forecasts of €22.5 billion.
“This suggests that a slowing world growth, and particularly China, has started to hurt German output. Indeed, Chinese data on imports from Germany confirms that Chinese demand for German products declined substantially in August,” said analysts at Rabobank in a note.
Indexes: Germany’s DAX 30 index DAX, +0.23% tacked on 0.2% to 9,993.07, while France’s CAC 40 index PX1, +0.18% rose 0.2% to 4,675.91.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index UKX, +0.61% closed 0.6% higher at 6,374.82, ending higher for a seventh straight session. The London benchmark was propped up by its miners and oil companies, which were extending a recent bullish trend for commodities firms.
