LONDON: European stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday, buoyed by robust earnings from food and technology stocks, as the European Central Bank kept its massive stimulus taps open and maintained its view that a recent spike in inflation would be temporary.

The pan-European STOXX 600 closed 0.2% higher with food and beverage and technology sectors gaining 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively.

Beer brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev surged 10.3% on a surprise rise in third-quarter profit, while French IT services provider Capgemini added 6.0% on strong earnings and outlook.

Anheuser-Busch was the top boost to the Belgian stock benchmark, which jumped 1.7%.

But broader gains were held back by weak earnings from the energy and automobile sectors.

Oil major Royal Dutch Shell dropped 3.0% after reporting third-quarter profit below expectations, hitting shares of peers BP and TotalEnergies .

Equity markets reacted little to the ECB's decision, which was largely as expected. The bank is likely to make a decision on its pandemic-related emergency stimulus in December.

"If you're an equity trader, you're flying. There's still no sign that monetary policy is going to be tightened," said Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital.

But investors questioned the bank's stance on transitory inflation, with preliminary data on Thursday showing consumer prices in the euro zone's largest economy rose more than expected in October.

"Some of the strength in the German figure were as a result of base effects, but even taking this into account it is hard not to conclude that inflationary pressures are increasing," Equiti Capital's Cole said.