European stocks close: stocks closed lower on falling oil prices

Stock closed lower on a decline in oil prices.

The European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said in a speech at the Brussels Economic Forum on Thursday that governments should implement structural reforms to support the central bank's stimulus measures.

"There are many understandable political reasons to delay structural reform, but there are few good economic ones. The cost of delay is simply too high," he said.

Destatis released its trade data for Germany on Thursday. Germany's trade surplus decreased to €25.6 billion in April from 26.2 in March. March's figure was revised up from a surplus of €26.0 billion. Exports were flat in April, while imports were down 0.2%.

The U.K. Office for National Statistics (ONS) released trade data for the U.K. on Thursday. The U.K. trade deficit in goods narrowed to £10.53 billion in April from £10.65 billion in March. March's figure was revised up from a deficit of £11.20 billion.

The decline in deficit was driven by a rise in good exports, which increased by £11.2 billion in April.

The total trade deficit, including services, narrowed to £3.29 billion in April from £3.53 billion in March. It was the lowest level since September 2015.

March's figure was revised up from a deficit of £3.83 billion.

Indexes on the close:

Name Price Change Change %

FTSE 100 6,231.89 -69.63 -1.10 %

DAX 10,088.87 -128.16 -1.25 %

CAC 40 4,405.61 -43.12 -0.97 %