Europe open: Markets rangebound ahead of ECB decision

Europe's equity markets were rangebound on Thursday morning as investors refrained from taking on too much risk ahead of the European Central Bank's interest rate decision at lunchtime.

Analysts widely expect the monetary authority's deposit facility rate to be lowered by 25 basis points to 3.25%, with a further one to two cuts pencilled in by the end of the year.

"The ECB has little choice but to cut. Germany’s economy is continuing to show signs of struggle. German investor confidence was weaker than expected this week, and a number of Eurozone economies have extremely low levels of inflation," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

The Stoxx 600 was up just 0.16% at 520.45 early on, as gains in Frankfurt, Paris and Milan slightly offset by mild losses in London and Madrid.

The ECB decision will be announced at 1415 CEST, while market participants will be watching for the final reading of September inflation figures from the eurozone due out at 1100 CEST, though no change is expected from earlier estimates.

Market movers

Nokia fell 5% as the Finnish telecoms giant said that operating profits this year would come in at the lower end of the €2.3bn-2.9bn guidance range.

Pest control services group Rentokil Initial surged 7% in London after reassuring investors with unchanged guidance following two profit warnings already this year. The company reported a steady third quarter with revenues unchanged year-on-year at £1.38bn.

German pharma and lab equipment group Sartorius Stedim Biotech jumped 12% after reiterating its full-year outlook. "In view of the figures for the first nine months, we are convinced that we will achieve our targets for fiscal 2024, and are optimistic for the future," said chief executive René Faber.

Leading the fallers was UK paper and packaging group Mondi, dropping 7% after underlying core profit fell in the third quarter in "muted" trade, mainly due to more planned maintenance shuts.

Nestle also declined after the Swiss food manufacturer cut its organic sales growth forecasts for the second time this year to 2%. The company trimmed its estimate from 3%, which had already been lowered from 4% initially.