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STOXX 600 ends flat

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Britain's economy showed no growth on a month-on-month

basis

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U.S. August CPI at 2.5% vs 2.6% YoY

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Commerzbank surges after Unicredit bought 9% stake

(Updated at 1600 GMT)

By Pranav Kashyap and Shubham Batra

Sept 11 (Reuters) - European shares ended flat on

Wednesday as gains in technology shares were offset by losses in

real estate shares, while investors shifted their focus to the

European Central Bank for its rate decision on Thursday.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was little changed

on the day.

German shares outperformed European peers as Commerzbank

surged 16%, after Italy's UniCredit bought a

9% stake in the German lender, of which 4.5% was bought from the

German government for 702 million euros ($775.29 million).

Heavy-weight ASML Holding's 3.8% gain caused the

technology sector to rise but the real estate sector

kept the gains in check, falling 0.8%.

Basic resources provided some support, gaining 0.4%,

as copper prices rose on a softer U.S. dollar.

Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 ticked 0.2% lower. The

estimates of GDP data showed no change in the UK's economic

output in month-on-month terms in July.

The markets were hawkeyed on U.S. consumer prices that rose

slightly in August, but underlying inflation remained sticky

amid higher rents and costs for some services, which could

discourage the Fed from delivering a half-point interest rate

cut next week.

Money markets now see only a 15% chance of a 50 bps cut

on Sept. 18 by the U.S. central bank as opposed to a 30% chance

before the inflation data.

Investors will now shift their focus to the ECB that

meets in less than 24 hours and is expected to cut interest

rates by 25 basis points.

"Anything other than a 25 bp rate cut from the ECB

tomorrow would be a huge surprise to us and the market," said

Joe McConnell, European liquidity strategies portfolio manager

at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

"The real intrigue will be in Lagarde's comments about

the perceived persistence of inflation and the pace of future

rate cuts."

Investors across the globe approached the markets with

caution following the first debate between U.S. presidential

candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, which took place

overnight. The debate lacked specific details, but betting

markets shifted in favour of Harris after the event.

Among other individual movers, Rentokil slumped 20%,

after the British pest control firm flagged a slowdown in its

North American revenue and said it would cut jobs.

Inditex rose 4.5%, lifting the retail sector

to the top, after the Zara owner reported stronger

recent sales of its first autumn-winter collections.