Oct 17 (Reuters) - European stocks held on to their gains on Thursday, after the European Central Bank delivered a widely expected 25-basis-point rate cut, even though it refrained from offering new clues about its next move.
The continent-wide STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), was up 0.7% at 1225 GMT, following a two-day decline.
The ECB reduced its interest rates by 25 bps, following a similar-sized cut in September, which marked its first back-to-back rate cuts in 13 years.
However, the central bank did not provide any indication about future moves in its statement and instead repeated its mantra that decisions will be data-dependent.
This came in the face of money markets' expectations of three further reductions through March 2025. Inflation in the euro zone is now increasingly under control and the economic outlook has worsened.
"The outlook is pretty clear as well... With the growth so slow in Europe and inflation back to target, it would be a surprise if they didn't continue to cut," Robert Farago, head of head of strategic asset allocation at Hargreaves Landsdown said.
Investor sentiment was already upbeat on the back of a slew of robust corporate earnings ahead of the monetary policy verdict.
Finnish bank Nordea (NDAFI.HE), rose 6%, supporting a more than 1% rise in the bank index (.SX7E), opens new tab, after raising its forecast and announcing a new share buyback programme.
Germany's Sartorius rose 16%, topping the STOXX 600, after the pharmaceutical equipment supplier's better-than-expected bio-processing order intake boosted its nine-month results.
British pest control company Rentokil Initial (RTO.L), rose 9% on plans to expand initiatives to increase organic growth in North America following higher group revenue growth.
On the flip side, Mondi (MNDI.L), dropped 6.5% after the British packaging company reported a lower third-quarter core profit, while Nokia (NOKIA.HE), fell 4.2% after its quarterly sales missed estimates.
Reporting by Paolo Laudani in Gdansk and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala
