European stocks close: most stocks closed slightly higher despite the rejection of Greek loan proposal by Germany

Most stock indices closed slightly higher despite the rejection of Greek loan proposal by Germany. Greece submitted a request for an extension of its existing loan agreement. But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble replied that the Greek loan proposal was "not a substantial proposal for a solution".

The European Central Bank (ECB) released its minutes of January meeting, for the first time. According to the minutes, the most Governing Council members voted a EUR60 billion a month bond-purchase programme, mostly government bonds, to increase inflation and to spur economic growth in the Eurozone.

One member wants to consider buying corporate bonds.

Eurozone's adjusted current account surplus fell to €17.8 billion in December from €19.9 billion in November. November's figure was revised up from a surplus of €18.1 billion. Analysts had expected a surplus of €23.3 billion.

Eurozone's consumer confidence index rose to -6.7 in February from -8.5 in January. Analysts had expected the index to decrease to -8.0.

The CBI industrial order books balance for the U.K. climbed to +10% in February from +4% in January.

Analysts expected the CBI industrial order books balance to increase to +7%.

Volume of output for the next three months climbed to +25 in February, the highest level since September 2014, up from +13 in January.

Indexes on the close:

Name Price Change Change %

FTSE 100 6,888.9 -9.18 -0.13 %

DAX 11,001.94 +40.94 +0.37 %

CAC 40 4,833.28 +34.25 +0.71 %