Europe seen higher, ECB decision ahead

European equities are expected to open higher Wednesday with investors awaiting the European Central Bank's monetary policy decision and comments on the progress of its bond-buying program.

European investors will keep an eye on the European Central Bank's monetary policy decision at 12.30 pm GMT. The ECB's governing council will assess the economic situation in the euro zone and announce its interest rate decision.

Bank President Mario Draghi is expected to assess the success of the bank's quantitative easing (QE) program in boosting lending in the euro zone and pushing inflation closer to the bank's target. Draghi will give a press conference following the decision.

Asian stock markets were mixed amid choppy trade on Wednesday as the keenly-awaited reading on China's economy showed first-quarter growth at its slowest pace since the global financial crisis.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7 percent in the three months to March from the year ago period, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, in line with the forecast in a Reuters poll and down from a 7.3 percent print in the previous quarter.

Further data out of China Wednesday included factory output, fixed asset investment and retail sales for March, all of which came in below market consensus.

Elsewhere, Greece will sell 625 million euros worth of three-month Treasury bills on April 15 to refinance a maturing issue, according to the country's debt agency PDMA. The auction is the second of two auctions of short-term paper this month amid a cash crunch.

In other news, the European Union will accuse Google on Wednesday of abusing its dominant position in Internet searches, opening the U.S. tech company up to a risk of massive fines and enforced changes in its business model, the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday.