Europe close: Stocks manage to close above their lows of the session

European stocks finished the Tuesday session slightly lower ahead of Wednesday evening´s meeting of the US Federal Reserve.

The question on every investor´s mind is whether the US central bank will maintain the reference to interest rates remaining low “for a considerable time”, or not.

No less important will be Thursday´s referendum on Scottish independence, which some observers worry may make itself felt on financial markets more generally.

The Fed is expected to hold interest rates at a record low but carve a further $20bn off bond purchases at the end of their two-day meeting which begins on Tuesday.

The FTSE-100 ended the day lower by 0.18% and Germany's Dax-Xetra by 0.28%.

The ZEW Center for European Economic Research’s index of investor and analyst expectations slipped to 6.9 from 8.6 in the month before (forecast: 5.0).

In the UK, inflation is projected to have risen by 1.5% year-on-year in August, compared to 1.6% a month earlier, moving further away from the Bank of England’s (BoE) 2% target. Lower inflation eases pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates. The BoE has held rates at 0.5% for five years.

The market is also waiting for the outcome of the 18 September referendum on Scotland’s independence from the UK. Polls have shown the vote is too close to call.

Orange, Asos

Orange declined as the French carrier after the French company offered to buy the Spanish broadband provider for about €3.4bn.

Publicis Group advanced after saying it will appoint a new management team.

From a sector standpoint the largest losses on the DJ Stoxx 600 were see in the following industrial groups: Real estate (-1.26%) and Technology (-1.02%).

The euro/dollar moved higher by 0.36% to $1.2986.

Brent crude futures gained 1.37% to $99.24 per barrel, according to the ICE.