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Dec 12 (Reuters) - European shares rose slightly on Thursday
as investors awaited the outcome of a general election in
Britain that will decide the fate of Brexit, as well as a policy
meeting by the European Central Bank (ECB).
While all major opinion polls suggest the ruling
Conservative Party will win Thursday's election, allowing them
to pass a withdrawal deal and end 3-1/2-years of uncertainty,
their lead seems to have narrowed recently. Attention will also be on the remarks made by the newly
appointed ECB chief Christine Lagarde on the future of stimulus
and policy review as the current policy is expected to stay
unchanged.
The FTSE 100 .FTSE index comprising
internationally-focused firms gained 0.2%, shrugging off the
impact from a firmer sterling. The pan-European STOXX 600
.STOXX index rose 0.1% at 0806 GMT.
Shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev ABI.BR fell marginally
after Australia's competition regulator raised concerns over the
brewer's $11 billion deal to sell its local operations to
Japan's Asahi 2502.T .