Stock indices closed higher as investors weighed corporate earnings reports.

The European Central Bank (ECB) slowed purchases of covered bonds in the week ending November 7, 2014. The European Central Bank increased by 2.629 billion euros its amount of covered bonds in the week ending November 7, 2014. The ECB held covered bonds in the value of 7.408 billion euros on Monday. The central bank bought 3.075 billion euros in the second week and 1.704 billion euros in the first week as the central bank started its covered bond-buying programme.

Eurozone's Sentix investor confidence index increased to -11.9 in November from -13.7 in October, missing expectations for a rise to -6.9.

Carlsberg A/S shares were up 3.1% after reporting the better-than-estimated third-quarter profit.

Indexes on the close:

Name Price Change Change %

FTSE 100 6,611.25 +44.01 +0.67%

DAX 9,351.87 +60.04 +0.65%

CAC 40 4,222.82 +32.93 +0.79%