Europe: Stocks tread water, all eyes on ECB

EUROPEAN stock markets trod water in early trade on Thursday (Jul 21) as investors eyed the European Central Bank's (ECB) widely anticipated first increase in interest rates in more than a decade.

After around 15 minutes of trading, London's benchmark FTSE 100 was unchanged at 7,263.79 points, Frankfurt's DAX index edged up by 0.3 per cent to 13,316.66 points and the Paris CAC 40 added 0.2 per cent to 6,200.25.

In Italy, where Prime Minister Mario Draghi was expected to resign after efforts to bring the country's fractious parties to heel failed, the blue-chip FTSE MIB index tumbled 2.3 per cent to 20,862.71 points. AFP