Europe close: Stocks end session mixed as ECB trims growth forecasts

Stocks on the Continent finished the session on a mixed note, buoyed by a more aggressive than expected interest rate hike by Turkey's central bank and after the European Central Bank stayed put on monetary policy, although rate-setters in Frankfurt did trim their forecasts for growth and inflation in the euro area for 2018 and 2019.

Rate-setters in Ankara surprised markets on Thursday, with the central bank hiking its benchmark interest rate by 625 basis points to 24.0%, when economists had only been expecting an increase of 325 basis points, helping the country's currency to make some inroads against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, and commenting on the ECB's decision, Chris Beauchamp at IG said: "The BoE and ECB continue to strike the pose of central banks either required (in the case of the BoE) or content (for the ECB) to await developments, leaving policy unchanged, although the trimming of growth forecasts by the latter did give some investors pause for thought," said IG's Chris Beauchamp."

By the close, the benchmark Stoxx 600 had dipped 0.15% or 0.56 points to 376.52, alongside a gain of 0.19% or 23.25 points to 12,055.55 on the German Dax and an advance of 0.24% or 22.40 points to 9,329.20 for the Ibex 35.

However, Milan's FTE Mibtel slipped by 0.56% or 116.82 points to 20,846.82, while the Cac-40 was drifting down by 0.08% or 4.01 points to 5,328.12.

In parallel, the Istanbul Stock Exchange's main index was up by 1.60% to 93,698.94 after recovering from an earlier dip.

Meanwhile, the US dollar was down by 3.69% to 6.1103 against the Turkish lira.

Providing another boost to markets, at up by 2.7% year-on-year, consumer prices in the US for August printed below expectations.

There was little in terms of economic data out of the euro area on Thursday, with the sole indicator released being the Irish Central Statistics Office's latest reading on harmonised consumer prices in the country, which was reported at up by 0.9% year-on-year, versus a rise of 1.0% in the month before.