European shares, euro flat ahead of ECB decision

Investors will also be watching a 3 billion euro Spanish bond auction, including new 10-year bonds, which will gauge the market's response to recent measures agreed by European leaders to ease the country's funding problems.

The euro was little changed around $1.2525 against the safe-haven U.S. dollar, which has gained 0.4 percent against a basket of key currencies .

"The focus for today's ECB meeting is whether it will take steps other than cutting interest rates," said Masashi Murata, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.

There has been talk in the market that the ECB could start buying troubled euro zone bonds again under its securities markets program (SMP), or conduct another long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) to inject funds into the financial system.

The ECB is due to announce its decision at 7.45 a.m. EDT, followed by a news conference by President Mario Draghi.

A Reuters poll of economists showed the majority expect the central bank to cut its main rate by 25 basis points to 0.75 percent, but they were evenly split on whether the ECB will lower its deposit rate.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares , which has gained 2.7 percent this week in the face of weak economic data, was unchanged at 1,045.36 points in early trade.

The MSCI world equity index was also flat at 316.16 points after a quieter session in Asia, where shares outside Japan hit seven-week highs on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Richard Hubbard; Editing by Will Waterman)