European stock markets fell Friday, ending a turbulent week on a negative note as investors digested a deluge of information potentially guiding future global monetary policy.
At 03:10 ET (07:10 GMT), the DAX index in Germany traded 0.2% lower, the CAC 40 in France fell 0.9% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. dropped 0.1%.
BOJ delays reduction of bond purchases
The Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady as widely expected earlier Friday, and said it will only decide on how to reduce its bond purchases at its next meeting in July.
The BOJ said it will hold meetings with interested parties at unspecified dates to help decide on plans to reduce its bond buying activities.
This came as something of a dovish surprise as the central bank had been widely expected to start cutting its bond purchases at this meeting.
This capped an action-packed week that has seen the Federal Reserve keep interest rates unchanged but cut the number of predicted rate cuts this year to one, from three.
That said, two inflation readings, both consumer prices and producer prices, came in weaker than expected, suggesting inflation was cooling more quickly than the market had priced in.
The European Central Bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points last week, as widely expected, but the region suffered political turmoil at the start of this week as far-right parties made gains in European Parliament elections.
French President Emmanuel Macron responded to losses to the right-wing National Front party, led by Marie Le Pen, by calling for a snap election in France.
