By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Stocks across Europe were lower
Thursday, stuck in the red after the European Central Bank matched
the markets expectations by leaving interest rates unchanged.
Markets are awaiting details around further steps the central bank
may take to spur the sluggish European economy.
The ECB held its main lending rate at 0.05%, and the interest
rate paid on deposits left overnight at the ECB was held at -0.2%.
The rate on the ECB's marginal lending facility was kept at
0.3%.
Stimulus questions: ECB President Draghi will hold his monthly
news conference in Naples, Italy, at 2:30 p.m. local time, or 8:30
a.m. Eastern. The central bank is under pressure to ramp up efforts
to stimulate inflation and growth levels in the eurozone. A raft of
recent data have highlighted worsening economic conditions in the
region, including Wednesday's report showing manufacturing-sector
activity in Germany -- Europe's biggest economy -- contracted and
hit a 15-month low.
Markets: The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.5% at 338.60 in
broad-based losses. European equities also felt the weight of heavy
losses Wednesday on Wall Street as signs of momentum in the U.S.
economy stoked worries the Federal Reserve will raise interest
rates sooner rather than later.
The European oil and gas group stumbled 1%, as crude-oil futures
slid below $90 a barrel for the first time since April 2013 after
Saudi Arabia said it will cut the selling price of its oil.
Germany's DAX 30 managed to edge up fractionally, France's CAC
40 shed 0.1% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.2%.
In the markets, Bayer AG said it sold $7 billion worth of bonds
in an effort to finance its purchase of Merck & Co.'s (MRK)
over-the-counter medicine business. Shares of Bayer were down
0.8%.
In Frankfurt, Rocket Internet AG shares made their trading
debut. They were at 39.95 euros ($50.48) in afternoon action, down
from their issue price of EUR42.50.
Comments: The ECB wants "to get lending going again," as bank
loans account for nearly 80% of corporate loans in the eurozone,
compared with about 50% in the U.S., said Marshall Gittler, head of
global currency strategy at IronFX, in a note.
The three main questions about the upcoming asset buying program
will be what credit ratings the ECB require, what kind of
underlying collateral will it accept and how much it will buy, said
Gittler.
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