European stocks closed lower on Thursday afternoon after the Bank of England expanded its bond-buying program and held interest rates steady at 0.1%.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished off session lows but fell 0.6% at 363.41 amid a choppy session. Banks and basic resources dropped around 1.2% to lead losses while chemicals stocks bucked the downward trend to add 0.7%.

The Bank of England on Thursday added another £100 billion to its quantitative easing program in a bid to shore up the U.K. economy amid the fallout from the coronavirus crisis, taking the total value of its Asset Purchase Facility (APF) to £745 billion. Analysts attributed the negative market reaction to investors having hoped for a larger boost.

In terms of individual share price action, German payments company Wirecard plummeted around 60% after again delaying the publication of its 2019 financial report. The company claimed it needed more time to work with auditor EY to address alleged balance sheet inconsistencies.

Source : CNBC