News that North Korea had conducted a nuclear test also rattled investors, particularly in South Korea.
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Meanwhile, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.18 percent and the euro-area blue-chip gauge the STOXX 50 dipped 0.04 percent, the PSI20 Index fell 0.32 percent, the DAX traded 0.17 percent lower and the CAC-40 fell 0.15 percent by 09:20 GMT. The Stoxx 600 index was also down 0.4 percent.
Germany’s DAX fell 0.4 per cent, and France’s CAC 40 and Britain’s FTSE 100 were both down 0.3 per cent, while USA futures pointed to a fall of around 0.2 per cent at the open on Wall Street.
“Today’s European Central Bank meeting can quickly be filed away under “non-event”, said Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING-Diba.
“A further cooling of the economy in the months ahead should give more support to just-started discussions about fiscal stimulus”.
The European Central Bank has decided it does not need to do anything more right now to stimulate the eurozone economy even as ECB President Mario Draghi announced only slight changes to its growth forecasts which remain lacklustre for this year and the next two years.
Investors are looking for a fresh catalyst to propel stocks higher. The Nasdaq composite fell 33 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,261. The biggest gainer on the session was Societe Generale, rising by over 2% to €33.07, while the ArcelorMittal led decliners, falling by 1.82% to €5.57. It was up 0.2 percent for the week. Apple lost 2 percent a day after the company introduced its new iPhone.
CURRENCIES: The euro remained solid in the wake of the ECB’s inaction and was trading 0.1 percent higher at $1.1267. It was minus 0.125 percent earlier this week.
USA bond yields also jumped, with the 30-year bond yield rising to one-month highs of 2.328 per cent on Thursday.
The weakness in the USA dollar this week has offered gold a boost. Germany’s 30-year bund yields reached their highest level since the Brexit vote result was published on June 24, while those on its 10-year debt, Europe’s benchmark, reached the highest since mid-August.
With the European Central Bank meeting out of the way, the focus now shifts back to the Fed’s policy meeting later this month.
Analysts agreed that this late addition to the Fed’s schedule was significant, but were split on how. “So they could say something like they will consider a hike in coming months”, she said.
The euro EUR= gained ground after Draghi’s comments, hitting a two-week high of $1.1326 before paring gains to trade up 0.15 percent at $1.1254.
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Meanwhile, energy-related stocks were expected to be under pressure, as oil prices turned sharply lower amid profit-taking from the previous session’s surge sparked by data showing that US crude supplies fell by the most since April 1985 last week.
