European stocks hit by ECB's plans slowdown

Main European indexes closed into the red Thursday as European Central Bank president Mario Draghi gave further

details of an asset backed recovery programme announced last month.

In London, the FTSE 100 Index dropped 111.1 points to 6446.4, the largest fall since January, as shares in Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's fell after staging a recovery earlier in the session. The French Cac and Germany's Dax also fell sharply, with Spanish Ibex35 closing the session with a 3 percent daily loss.

Footsie has fallen sharply since it topped 6,900 in the session following the Scottish referendum as attention focuses on the eurozone's economic crisis and the prospect of higher interest rates in the UK and United States.

Amongst the risers of the day, yet outside the FTSE 100 Index, Ted Baker defied industry’s fears over an extremely warm autumn burdening seasonal figures, as it reported a strong performance from its autumn and winter collections at the start of its second half year. The firm´s half-year profits jumped 33.8 percent to 15.6 million pounds, pulling the stock by 11 pence to a close of 1,873 pence apiece.

Elsewhere, Rocket Internet AG stumbled 12 percent to 37.61 euros on its first day of trading. The Berlin-based company has completed the biggest initial public offering in Germany since 2007, pricing its shares at the top end of its range. Meanwhile, Zalando´s shares sank 11 percent to 19.23 euros on their second day of trading.