European stocks close: stocks closed lower despite a rise in oil prices

Stock indices traded lower despite a rise in oil prices.

Destatis released its gross domestic product (GDP) growth for Germany on Thursday. Germany's price-adjusted GDP gained by 1.7% year-on-year in 2015, after a 1.6% increase in 2014.

Germany's calendar-adjusted GDP rose by 1.5% year-on-year in 2015, after a 1.6% growth in 2014.

The increase was driven by household consumption.

Household final consumption expenditure climbed by a price-adjusted rate of 1.9% year-on-year in 2015, while government final consumption expenditure jumped by 2.8%.

Price-adjusted exports of goods and services soared 5.4% year-on-year in 2015, while imports rose 5.7%.

The budget surplus was 0.5% of GDP in 2015.

The European Central Bank's (ECB) its minutes of December meeting on Thursday. The minutes showed that some members wanted a 0.2% cut of the deposit rate.

Most board members supported the extension of the purchases from September 2016 to March 2017.

According to the minutes, the possibility of expanding the monthly volume of purchase and the possibility of the horizon beyond the six month were discussed at the meeting.

The ECB said that it could review the technical parameters of its quantitative easing in spring 2016.

The Bank of England (BoE) released its interest rate decision on Thursday. The BoE kept its interest rates unchanged at 0.5% and its asset purchase program unchanged at £375 billion. This decision was widely expected.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) released its January meeting minutes on Thursday. 8 members voted to keep the central bank's monetary policy unchanged. Ian McCafferty voted to hike interest rate by 0.25%.

The consumer price inflation in the U.K. was 0.1% in November, below the central bank's 2% target. The BoE noted that inflation is expected to rise modestly in the coming months, adding that low energy and food prices weigh on inflation.

Indexes on the close:

Name Price Change Change %

FTSE 100 5,918.23 -42.74 -0.72 %

DAX 9,794.2 -166.76 -1.67 %

CAC 40 4,312.89 -79.05 -1.80 %