European stock indexes rose in early trading on
Thursday, ahead of the European Central Bank interest rate decision and press
conference by ECB Chief Mario Draghi.
Strong earnings reports from Roche pharmaceutical
companies, AP InBev brewery and L.F.M.H. luxury goods pushed European equities
higher ahead of the ECB rate decision.
As of 09:20 GMT, the Euro Stoxx 600 index was up
0.29 percent at 392.90 points. France's CAC 40 augmented 0.58 percent at
5,638.14 and Germany's DAX gained 0.08 percent at 12,531.9. Britain's FTSE 100 recovered
0.18 percent to 7,515 points.
The
world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, climbed 3.7 percent after its
quarterly results exceeded expectations supported by the fastest-growing beer
sales in five years.
Swiss
pharmaceutical maker Roche rose 1.1 percent after the company raised its
full-year sales forecast, while Telecom Equipment Maker Nokia increased after announcing
a surge in second-quarter earnings.
Investors are looking forward to the ECB monetary
decision, amid speculation the central bank will provide further easing of
monetary policy on Thursday.
The ECB may hint to a possible interest rate cuts
in the upcoming months, while may restart its QE program to stimulate the euro
area economy.
The ECB will probably announce further monetary
erasing ahead of next week’s Fed meeting, which may result in the first interest
rate slash in a decade.
In the meantime, euro recovered its earlier
losses to trade at $1.1143 after hitting a a low of $1.1121, the lowest level
since May 30.
