CAC 40 Inches Higher With ECB Meeting In Focus

(RTTNews) - French shares rose on Thursday, though gains remained muted ahead of the European Central Bank's (ECB) monetary policy decision, due later in the day.

The ECB may signal a more hawkish approach, but traders look for clues on how much the bank will reduce the asset purchases and how long will it take to wind down the entire stimulus.

The focus also remained on Spain as the government prepares to impose direct rule in a bid to stop Catalonia breaking away.

The benchmark CAC 40 was up 12 points or 0.22 percent at 5,386 in late opening deals after closing 0.4 percent lower on Wednesday.

Orange rose 1.4 percent after posting record mobile sales in France in the three months ended September 30.

Schneider Electric shed 0.7 percent. The energy management firm posted muted growth in third-quarter revenues organically, while it was down 1.9 percent on a reported basis.