European stock markets mid session: stocks traded lower as market participants eyed the Fed's and the BoJ’s interest rate decisions

Stock indices traded lower on the Fed's and the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) interest rate decisions. The BoJ kept its monetary policy unchanged on Thursday. Market participants speculated that the central bank would add further stimulus measures.

The Fed kept its interest rate unchanged at 0.25% - 0.50% on Wednesday as widely expected by analysts. The Fed said in its statement that the U.S. economic activity slowed, while the labour market continued to improve.

Market participants also eyed the economic data from the Eurozone. The European Commission released its economic sentiment index for the Eurozone on Thursday. The index rose to 103.9 in April from 103.0 in March. Analysts had expected the index to increase to 103.4.

The drop was driven by improvements in confidence among consumers and in all business sectors except retail trade.

The industrial confidence index increased to -3.7 in April from -4.2 in March, beating expectations for a rise to -4.0.

The final consumer confidence index was up to -9.3 in April from -9.7 in March, in line with expectations.

The business climate index increased to 0.13 in April from 0.12 in March. March's figure was revised up from 0.12. Analysts had expected the index to climb to 0.14.

The rise in business climate index was driven by a more favourable managers' assessment of production expectations, and of the stocks of finished products and export order books.

The Federal Labour Agency released its unemployment figures for Germany on Thursday. The number of unemployed people in Germany slid by 16,000 in April, beating expectations for a flat reading, after a 3,000 decrease in March.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.2% in April, in line with expectations.

The number of unemployed people was 1.80 million in March, down from 1.82 million in February, according to Destatis.

Destatis said that Germany's adjusted unemployment rate declined to 4.2% in March from 4.3% in February.

The Nationwide Building Society released its house prices data for the U.K. on Thursday. UK house prices were up 0.2% in April, missing expectations for a 0.4% rise, after a 0.8% increase in March.

On a yearly basis, house prices fell to 4.9% in April from 5.7% in March. Analysts had expected house prices to decline by 5.0%.

"This slowdown returns the annual pace of house price growth to the fairly narrow range between 3% and 5% that had been prevailing since the summer of 2015," Nationwide's Chief Economist, Robert Gardner, said.

Current figures:

Name Price Change Change %

FTSE 100 6,265.89 -54.02 -0.85 %

DAX 10,178.5 -121.33 -1.18 %

CAC 40 4,500.75 -58.65 -1.29 %