European shares fall; ECB rate decision in focus

European shares slipped on Thursday as nervous investors awaited an interest rate decision from the bloc’s central bank, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it would keep hiking rates further.

The region-wide STOXX 600 was down 0.9 percent at 0810 GMT.

The European Central Bank is widely expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points at 1315 GMT, after the Fed’s move on Wednesday to raise rates by a half percentage point.

UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 was down 0.6 percent, with investors’ eyes on the Bank of England’s interest rate decision also due later in the day.

All the sectors on the STOXX 600 slid, with industrials and retail stocks falling 1.6 percent and 1.3 percent respectively and leading the declines.

Banks declined 0.8 percent, dragged by a 1.3-percent fall in HSBC after a small group of its Hong Kong-based retail investors launched a renewed campaign, calling on the lender to restore its pre-pandemic dividend and set a plan to spin off assets.

H&M fell 3.1 percent, which weighed on the retail sector, even as the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer’s net sales growth in September-November slightly exceeded expectations.