Shares, euro tread water ahead of ECB meeting

The U.S. Federal Reserve stopped short of signaling fresh stimulus for the economy at a meeting on Wednesday, but some investors believe the ECB could announce it will resume buying bonds under it Securities Market Programme (SMP) to drive down borrowing costs for Italy and Spain.

Most, however, point to the absence of any sign that Germany has relented in its opposition to the ECB taking a more interventionist role in the debt market - seen by many economists as the only way to quell the euro zone's crisis.

Central bank sources have told Reuters that bold action is probably at least five weeks away, but ECB President Mario Draghi may offer some clues on what is in the offing. The question is whether his words will be enough to satisfy markets for now.

"Warnings by the Bundesbank President (Jens) Weidmann for the ECB to not to overstep its remit sets the scene for a stressful policy meeting today," Mitul Kotecha, Head of Global FX Strategy for Credit Agricole CIB.

The euro edged up 0.1 percent to $1.2241, but remained well below Wednesday's high of $1.2337, while European shares <.FTEU3> opened virtually unchanged and Brent crude oil was steady near $106 a barrel.

The Bank of England's latest policy decision on Thursday is also expected to make no change to policy, while Spain will test market sentiment with an auction of up to 3 billion euros ($3.7 billion)of two- to 10-year debt.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks and Treasuries fell while the dollar rallied against the euro and yen after the Fed offered no new monetary stimulus at the end of a two-day policy meeting but said it would act if economic conditions worsened. ($1 = 0.8132 euros)

(Reporting by Richard Hubbard; editing by Patrick Graham)

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