European markets opened higher on Thursday ahead of the European Central Bank's (ECB) policy meeting amid expectations it will announce a full-scale bond-buying program to save the euro zone economy.
The STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.3 percent at the open before paring gains.
All sectors were trading in positive territory bar chemicals, construction and material, food and beverages, household goods and travel and leisure.
The FTSE was trading marginally higher and French CAC and German DAX flat Thursday morning ahead of the ECB policy meeting.
Global markets are poised for the ECB to announce some form of government bond-buying following its meeting on Thursday, in an attempt to stimulate the deflation-hit euro zone. The rate decision will come at 12:45 GMT and will be followed by a press conference at 13:30 GMT, headed by ECB President Mario Draghi.
On the FTSE Thursday, the best performer was RSA Insurance Group, whose shares were up 3.3 percent after Credit Suisse raised the stock to outperform from neutral. The worst performer was energy firm SSE.
Shares of Spanish lender Bankinter were up 2.3 percent after the bank posted a 45 percent rise in net profit in 2014, to 276 million euros ($320 million), on Thursday. Meanwhile, Royal Mail shares were up 1 percent after the group posted a 1 percent rise in group revenue for the nine months to December 31.
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