Stock indices traded higher on comments by the ECB president. The European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said at the press conference today that the central bank will launch an expanded asset purchase programme of 60 billion euro a month starting from March 2015 until September 2016.

The central bank kept its interest rate unchanged at 0.05%.

Eurozone's consumer confidence index rose to -8.5 in January from -10.9 in December. Analysts had expected the index to increase to -10.5.

The public sector net borrowing in the U.K. rose to £13.1 billion in December from £10.3 billion a year earlier, missing expectations for a decline to £9.2 billion.

Indexes on the close:

Name Price Change Change %

FTSE 100 6,796.63 +68.59 +1.02%

DAX 10,435.62 +136.39 +1.32%

CAC 40 4,552.8 +67.98 +1.52%