PARIS: European markets shot up on Wednesday as the ECB indicated it planned to carry through with its stimulus measures, while ignoring high-risk brinkmanship over a deal to prevent Greece from defaulting.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies closed the day up 0.32 percent at 6,950.46 points.
In the eurozone, the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.59 percent to 5,034.17 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 30 rose 0.80 percent to 11,419.62 points.
The euro soared to $1.1265 from $1.1152 late on Tuesday, on a combination of reassuring eurozone and disappointing US data.
"Comments from ECB's President Mario Draghi spread optimism across European equity markets and prompted a strong rally for the euro which surged above 1.1250 against the US dollar," said Sucden Research Analyst Myrto Sokou.
After a regular policy meeting at which the European Central Bank held its key rates unchanged as expected, ECB president Mario Draghi signalled that the 60 billion euro per month stimulus programme would continue despite inflation picking up.
Asked whether the ECB was currently considering an "exit strategy" from its raft of unconventional policy measures, Draghi told a news conference: "No. The answer is no. We're really far from that."
The ECB launched its bond-buying stimulus programme in March to fight falling prices in the eurozone, and data showed that inflation picked up to 0.3 percent in May after having been negative or flat for several months.
"Mario Draghi put to bed the question that has arisen in the markets on whether the ECB could taper in response to the recent rise in inflation," said Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam at currency trading company Oanda.
The ECB also confirmed its growth forecasts and raised its inflation forecast, while survey data suggested that the eurozone recovery is continuing.
Meanwhile the OECD held its eurozone growth forecast for this year at 2.1 percent, while it chopped that for the United States from 3.1 to 2.0 percent. Survey data suggested the US service sector is slowing, if still expanding.
That divergence weakened the dollar as a slowdown may prompt the US Federal Reserve to hold back on its plans to raise interest rates.
Meanwhile investors seemed to brush off the brinkmanship and mixed messages from officials about the chances of a quick deal to finally unlock 7.2 billion euros ($8.0 billion) in vitally needed bailout funds for Athens after a four-month stand-off.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker were to meet later Wednesday to exchange proposals.
Greece faces a Friday deadline to repay more than 300 million euros to the IMF. Overall it needs to repay the global lender some 1.6 billion euros this month, funds it currently lacks. A default could trigger a series of events that could possibly end with a messy euro exit for Greece.
Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said Wednesday that a Greek reform proposal confirmed his pessimism on the chance of a speedy accord.
EU officials also downplayed the changes of a breakthrough on at Wednesday's talks, although French President Francois Hollande said an accord was "days, even hours away."
Asian markets mostly fell Wednesday.
Tokyo slipped 0.34 percent, its second consecutive drop after the Nikkei on Monday recorded a 12th straight day of rises -- its longest rally since 1988 at the height of the country's stock market bubble.
Wall Street stocks pushed higher Wednesday following solid US trade and employment data.
Nearing midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 0.52 percent to 18,104.80 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.44 percent to 2,118.90, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.65 percent to 5,109.73.
US businesses added 201,000 jobs in May after an average 170,000 in each of the previous two months, according to payroll firm ADP.
Commerce Department data showed the trade deficit fell to $40.9 billion in April from the huge $50.6 billion in March as the distortions from the West Coast port slowdown began to ebb.
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