LONDON - European stocks rallied Thursday on the ECB's announcement it will inject over 1.0 trillion euros of stimulus into the stagnant eurozone economy, while the euro sank against the dollar.
The pledge by European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi to buy 60 billion euros ($69 billion) of bonds per month exceeded market expectations that the monthly pace of the quantitative easing, or QE program of asset-purchases would be 50 billion euros.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 climbed 1.32% to a new record close of 10,453.62 points, while the CAC 40 in Paris shot up 1.52% to 4,552.80 points.
The Milan stock market jumped 2.44% and Madrid 1.70% in value.
In Britain, which is not part of the eurozone, the FTSE 100 index of top companies rose 1.02% to end the day at 6,796.63 points.
Meanwhile eurozone government bond yields fell on the prospect of massive ECB purchases.
The rate of return to investors on benchmark Spanish 10-year bonds hit a record low of 1.397% before closing at 1.405%, down from 1.530% the night before.
The yield on Italian 10-year bonds was at 1.549% near its record low of 1.548%, down from 1.691% on Wednesday.
French 10-year bond yields ended the day at 0.617% after touching a low of 0.587% compared with 0.704% the day before.
The ECB's strong move also gave a boost to shares on Wall Street.
Before the ECB announcement, Asian markets had extended their rally this week, with Tokyo adding 0.28%, Sydney rising 0.49%, and ending the day Seoul flat.
Hong Kong rose 0.70% and Shanghai gained 0.59%.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2015
