European stock markets opened with gains on Thursday with attention placed on the next announcement from the Bank of England (BoE) on interest rates which is coming later in the day. The BoE is expected to hold rates at 5% following the inflation data that showed a rise of 2.2% in August, the same as in July. Also, investors are digesting the US Federal Reserve's decision to do a big cut of 50 basis points to between 4.75% and 5%.
At 9:00 am CET, the French CAC 40 climbed 1.51% and the Euro Stoxx 50 jumped 1.41% with LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE rising 3.00%. The British FTSE 100 traded 0.96% higher with Next PLC expanding 4.84%. The German DAX gained 0.93% as Daimler Truck AG went 1.62% up.
The euro traded 0.24% higher against the dollar at 8:59 am CET to sell for $1.11456. Simultaneously, the pound sterling advanced 0.35% against the United States currency to change hands for $1.32564.
