EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Soft Ahead Of Central-bank Meetings

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets headed for a fifth straight day of losses on Thursday, as investors opted for the sidelines ahead of monetary-policy decisions from both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.1% to 316.93, on track for the lowest close since October.

Shares of Metro AG gave up 5.1% after Morgan Stanley cut the German retailer to equal weight from overweight as the share price breached the bank's price target earlier in the week and the analysts "struggle to identify any near-term catalysts."

Sydbank AS lost 4.2% after the Danish bank said it will book impairment charges of around 850 million Danish kroner ($155 million) in the fourth quarter.

On a more upbeat note, Drax Group PLC rallied 5.3% after J.P. Morgan Cazenove lifted the utility firm to overweight from neutral.

More broadly, investors were hesitant of buying into the stock market ahead of rate decisions from the European Central Bank at 12:45 p.m. London time, or 7:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Bank of England at noon in London.

The ECB last month lowered its key lending rate to a record low of 0.25% in an effort to boost growth and stave off low inflation. Since then, market participants have speculated whether the central bank will launch unconventional easing measures such as quantitative easing or negative deposit rates to further stimulate the euro-zone economy and investors hope for more clues at ECB President Mario Draghi's news conference at 1:30 p.m.

"Based on public commentary, it seems the ECB Council is not wholly convinced that last month's refi rate cut is sufficient to counter the risk of 'prolonged low inflation'," analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a note.

"The mixed dataflow creates some leeway for the ECB to stall a decision, await new data and make a more informed decision on the state of the recovery," they added.

France's CAC 40 index was flat at 4,148.45, while Germany's DAX 30 index gained 0.2% to 9,155.54. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index inched 0.1% higher to 6,514.07.

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