European Equities Close Higher Thursday; Bank of England Holds Rates; BBVA Makes Second Bid for Banco de Sabadell

European stock markets closed higher in Thursday trading as the Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.19%, the Swiss Market Index gained 0.78%, France's CAC increased 0.69%, the FTSE in London rose 0.33%, and Germany's DAX closed 1.02% higher.

The Bank of England held interest rates steady at 5.25% Thursday and said in a statement that "the progress we are seeing in the key economic data is encouraging, but we are not yet at the point of cutting interest rates." The bank added that it needs to see more evidence that inflation will stay low before it makes any rate cuts.

Poland's central bank left interest rates unchanged Thursday for the seventh consecutive month at 5.75%, saying that "economic conditions in the environment of the Polish economy remain weakened," adding that "uncertainty about the activity outlook in the largest economies persists."

The European Investment Bank has signed a 470 million-euro ($506.2 million) loan with the Spanish regional government of Valencia to co-finance green, social, and digital investments.

And in corporate news, Spanish financial services company Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria made an 11.5 billion-euro ($12.17 billion) offer for Banco de Sabadell directly to shareholders after the bank's board rejected a similar offer, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing a BBVA filing.

Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk (NVO) could pay up to $600 million as part of a deal struck with Metaphore Biotechnologies and Flagship Pioneering to develop up to two new therapeutics for obesity management, Metaphore and Flagship Pioneering said Thursday.

Shares of UK-based private equity and venture capital firm 3i Group led the decliners on the FTSE, falling 5.2% after it reported Thursday that total return for the year to March 31 fell to 3.84 billion pounds ($4.80 billion) from 4.56 billion pounds a year earlier.