LONDON: Eurozone stocks advanced on Thursday after the European Central Bank announced it would continue to pump tens of billions euros in stimulus into the economy each month.
However, the euro fell by 0.5 percent to around $1.1755 in the immediate aftermath of the ECB announcement that it would will reduce its purchases of government and corporate bonds to 30 billion euros per month, but continue them through September 2018.
"Today's decision is a sea-change but a very gentle one, not a big-bang U-turn," ING Diba bank economist Carsten Brzeski commented.
"The ECB wants to start the exit as cautiously as possible."
ECB chief Mario Draghi said the eurozone economy still relied on "an ample degree" of stimulus in the face of sluggish inflation.
Eurozone equities pushed higher after the announcements, with Frankfurt up 0.7 percent and Paris 0.9 percent as Wall Street opened for trading.
"It looks like the ECB is managing a taper without a tantrum," said Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX capital.
"For the first time in many meetings we got a truly different policy statement and one that seems to strike a pretty good balance between the hawks and the doves."
The ECB had provided clear signals it would trim stimulus, thus avoiding a market panic like after the US Federal Reserve surprised markets in 2013 with an abrupt announcement that it planned to pull support.
Meanwhile, Madrid went into positive territory and shot 2.0 percent higher after Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont "suspended" his much-anticipated announcement on Thursday, as independence supporters protested in Barcelona over reports he is poised to call elections and renounce declaring independence.
- Asian stocks diverge -
In Asia on Thursday, Tokyo and Shanghai ended higher but elsewhere markets were muted, tracking a retreat on Wall Street as fears over the progress of US President Donald Trump's tax cut plans dampened investor sentiment.
Tokyo got a boost from strong corporate earnings, with messaging app Line surging nearly 17 percent as it reported better-than-expected profit.
Wall Street opened higher, rebounding after closing lower Wednesday on soft earnings results.
"US stocks are higher in early action, with the markets digesting another heavy dose of earnings data, highlighted by results from Twitter and Ford, while reacting to the European Central Bank's decision to taper but extend its stimulus measures," said analysts at Charles Schwab brokerage.
Twitter delivered signs of a turnaround in its fortunes by narrowing its losses and showing signs toward profitability, sending its shares soaring over 13 percent.
Meanwhile shares in Ford climbed 1.7 percent after it reported a jump in third-quarter profits on lower tax expenses as strong US sales of pickups and SUVs lifted results in North America.
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