Europe open: Stocks slip as euro gains ahead of ECB meeting

European stocks started the morning drifting lower ahead of Thrusday's European Central Bank policy meeting, despite a record close overnight in the tech-heavy US Nasdaq index, amid decent corporate earnings and strong gains for Asian equities this morning.

As of 0815 GMT the benchmark Stoxx 600 is down by 0.08% to 386.61, while the German Dax is off by 0.06% to 12,458.89 and the Cac-40 by 0.01% to 5,277.61.

To take note of, at 1.0922 the euro is holding onto most of its gains from the previous session against the US dollar amid reports that the ECB is mulling a "small" shift in its policy bias come June.

Acting as a backdrop, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index is at its highest level since mid-2015 on Wednesday morning, with investors in the region waiting on the result of the Bank of Japan's own policy meeting, also on Thursday.

"Calls for a flat FTSE open come in spite of Asian bourses following their US counterparts higher, the Nasdaq at a new record and the S&P hot on its heels fuelled by a decent earnings season thus far. Markets excited to hear what Trump has to say on Tax reform, giving him an opportunity to finally deliver on pro-growth policy, but conscious of having already failed miserably on Healthcare and little to show for his first hundred days," said Mike van Dulken, head of Research at Accendo Markets.

French consumer confidence was unchanged in April from the previous month, according to INSEE, whose sentiment gauge printed at 100.

Shares in Spanish lender Santander are 0.60% higher after it posted a 17% year-on-year rise in its first quarter profits before tax to €3.31bn at constant exchange rates.

French carmaker PSA Group's sales grew by 4.9% during the first quarter thanks to the introduction of new models.

Another French outfit, industrial gases manufacturer Air Liquide said that first quarter revenues increased by 38.5% year-on-year, with management confident of further profit growth in 2017.

Private equity outfits have shown a preliminary interest in Eni's retail gas and power business, according to Il Sole 24 Ore.

In parallel, Eni is reportedly about to decide whether to start talks with Allianz aimed at selling its stake in Atlantia's motorway division, Il Messaggero reported. Meanwhile, the same newspaper said Atlantia will decide in the next seven days whether to launch a takeover of Spansh rival Abertis.

German steel distributor Kloeckner&Co. expects prices to stabilise during the first three months of the year, with core earnings at between €60m to €70m after a sharp rise to €77.0m during the first quarter.