European stock markets mid-session: Indices add gains after yesterday’s turmoil

Yesterday European indices sharply declined after the SNB decided to discontinue the minimum exchange rate of 1.20 per euro and lowered interest rates more into negative territory to -0.75. The surprise move erased early gains driven by a recovery in commodities. The Swiss franc rallied against its major peers and Swiss stocks plunged. Later in the day markets recovered and posted solid gains in volatile trading.

In today's session the FTSE 100 index is trading flat at+0.10% quoted at 6,498.88. France's CAC 40 added +0.55% trading at 4,347.09. Germany's DAX 30 is currently trading +0.22% above the psychologically important level of 10,000 at 10,054.54. Energy shares offset the continuous slump on the Swiss market amid rising oil prices. Indices were further supported from ongoing speculation that the ECB will announce to start QE on the next policy meeting taking place on January 22^nd.

A report form Eurostat said that harmonized Consumer Price Inflation on a yearly basis remained unchanged and in line with estimates at -0.2%. Harmonized CPI ex EFAT, excluding the volatile energy and food items costs, was 0.1% below expectations at +0.7%. CPI for December was at -0.1%. Analysts expected data to show a reading of -0.2%.