Mixed close for European stocks after ECB meeting

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - European stocks closed mixed Thursday after the conclusion of the much-anticipated meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB).

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, fell 0.3 points, or 0.06%, to close at 467.57.

London's FTSE 100 was the worst performer for the day, shedding 71 points, or 1.01%, to 7,024, while Spain's IBEX 35 fell 38 points, or 0.43%, to close at 8,800.

Germany's DAX 30 rose 12 points, or 0.08%, to 15,623. Italy's Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 added almost 33 points, or 0.13%, to 25,909.

France's CAC 40 was the best performer, rising more than 15 points, or 0.24%, to end at 6,684 points.

The mixed results came after the ECB kept its monetary policy unchanged but signaled a slowing of its asset purchases.

The central bank said that "financing conditions can be maintained with a moderately lower pace of net asset purchases under the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) than in the previous two quarters."

It noted, however, that it will "continue to conduct net asset purchases under the PEPP with a total envelope of €1,850 billion until at least the end of March 2022 and, in any case, until it judges that the coronavirus crisis phase is over."

- Asian stock markets

Major stocks in Asia also closed mixed, with only Shanghai in positive territory.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, lost 42 points, or 1.06%, to end at 4,002 points.

The Nikkei 225 stock exchange fell 173 points, or 0.57%, to 30,008. The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, plummeted 604 points, or 2.3%, to 25,716.

China's Shanghai stock exchange was the only gainer, increasing almost 18 points, or 0.49%, to 3,693 points.

- Major US indices

Despite a slow opening, the Nasdaq was up 43 points, or 0.28%, to 15,329 at 12.38 p.m. EDT (1638GMT) with Moderna and BlackBerry extending gains to 7% and 4.5%, respectively.

The Dow Jones was up 8, or 0.02%, to 35,039, while the S&P 500 was flat, adding just 1 point to 4,515.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, was at 17.87 with a 0.5% decline. The dollar index was down 0.2% to 92.45.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes decreased 1.7% to 1.317%.

Precious metals recovered from the previous day's losses with gold rising 0.2% to $1,793 per ounce and silver adding 0.6% to $24.1.

The price of Brent crude was at $72.25 per barrel with a 0.5% loss. West Texas Intermediate fell 0.55% to $68.92.