British News Agency

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 1.35 percent, shortly after the Bank of England’s announcement. All major bourses and virtually all sectors traded in the green, with mining stocks adding 4.03 percent. Utilities were the rare outlier, down 1.69 percent.

Bank of England policymakers voted to hold rates steady at 5 percent in a widely anticipated move. The U.K. central bank said a “gradual approach” to monetary easing remained appropriate, with services inflation remaining “elevated.”

The decision came a day after the Fed announced a jumbo 50 basis point cut to interest rates, bringing its target range to 4.75 percent to 5.00 percent.

Trading in Asia-Pacific was choppy Thursday following the Fed cut, but stocks ultimately rose during the session. U.S. futures also moved higher overnight.

In Europe, retail stocks climbed 1.49 percent, led by gains for British retailer Next. The company jumped as much as 5.8 percent before paring gains slightly after saying it was on track to make almost £1 billion ($1.32 billion) in annual profits following an uptick in first-half sales.

Shares of Commerzbank traded 1.5 percent lower in morning deals as further developments emerged after UniCredit obtained a 9 percent stake in the German lender last week. 

Also on Thursday, Norway’s central bank kept interest rates on hold at a 16-year high of 4.5 percent and said it plans to start cutting borrowing costs from the start of next year.