European stocks rise at open, before ECB rate call

LONDON: Europe's main stock markets rose at the start of trading on Thursday, as markets waited to see if the European Central Bank will decide to raise interest rates to tackle high inflation.

London's FTSE 100 index climbed 0.45 percent to 6,029.93 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 advanced 0.49 percent to 7,467.82 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.58 percent to stand at 3,981.79.

The European Central Bank is widely expected to announce its second interest rate increase since April on Thursday, probably to 1.50 percent, owing to dogged eurozone inflation currently running at 2.7 percent, analysts said.

In London, the Bank of England is on Thursday set to keep its key interest rate at a record-low level of 0.50 percent and maintain the status quo into next year due to Britain's flagging recovery, according to economists.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011