Major stock indices in Europe little changed

European stocks traded mostly in positive territory, near 8-month high, as investors awaited the outcome of ECB's meeting.

Analysts expect that the outcome of the September meeting will be a monetary policy unchanged, but the central bank may hint at expanding bond purchase program. At the last ECB meeting in July, the head of the Central Bank Draghi said officials have shown that they can adjust the program of quantitative easing (QE) in the case of need, and there should be no doubt that they can extend the life of QE after March 2017 .

Today's data show that in the second quarter euro-zone's GDP grew in line with expectations, while German manufacturing orders in July rose less than forecast.

Eurostat Statistical Office reported that the gross domestic product of the 19 countries of the eurozone increased by 0.3 percent in quarterly terms and by 1.6 percent over the previous year, in line with previous estimates and forecasts of experts. In the 1st quarter the economy expanded by 0.6 percent and 1.7 percent respectively. The largest contribution to GDP growth was from net trade - it has added 0.4 percentage points to the final result. Falling inventories took away 0.2 percentage points of GDP, slowing investment, in contrast to previous quarters. The data also showed that q/q growth of the economy slowed sharply in France - from 0.7 percent to zero and in Italy from 0.3 percent to zero. In Germany, the rate of expansion eased to 0.4 percent from 0.7 percent.

The composite index of the largest companies in the region Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.1 percent. The trading volume today is 34 percent less than the average over the past 30 days.

Volatility declined by 1.1 percent, reaching a month low.

Fresenius capitalization increased by 3.7 per cent after the pharmaceutical company said it will pay $ 6.42 billion for IDC Holding Salud, the largest network of private hospitals in Spain.

Ingenico Group SA shares fell 13 percent, as the manufacturer of payment terminals downgraded its forecasts for annual profit and revenue growth.

OCI NV cost decreased by 7 percent after the fertilizer producer reported a decline in revenues in the first half.

At the moment:

FTSE -20.77 6858.65 -0.30%

DAX +21.66 10693.88 + 0.20%

CAC 40 +2.06 4543.14 + 0.05%