UPDATE 2-ECB stimulus draws tepid response from European stocks; banks end flat

* Washington, China rein in trade actions
* Banks rally on ECB plan before paring gains
* AB InBev up on plans to explore Asia unit IPO

(Updates to close, changes comment)
By Sruthi Shankar and Agamoni Ghosh
Sept 12 (Reuters) - European stocks edged higher in choppy
trading on Thursday, with banks underwhelmed by the European
Central Bank's stimulus measures while Washington's move to
delay tariffs on Chinese goods boosted automakers and technology
firms.
The pan-European stocks index .STOXX gained as much as
0.8% after the ECB cut its deposit rate to a record low of -0.5%
from -0.4% and said it will restart bond purchases of 20 billion
euros a month from November. That initially sent bond yields tumbling, the euro down and
euro zone stocks .STOXXE into positive territory. Gains in the STOXXE index wore off as the session
progressed, however, with euro zone banks .SX7E swinging on
the news that the ECB was easing the terms of its cheap loan
scheme to banks and introducing a tiered deposit rate.
"I don't think this is a game changer," said Pictet Asset
Management's chief strategist Luca Paolini.
"Even if it was a positive surprise in some areas, there
were negative surprises overall. They basically did what the
market expected and they've done it many times in the past."
Euro zone banks - one of the main beneficiaries of an
investor pivot into value stocks in recent days - closed 0.24%
higher, while broader European banks .SX7P finished unchanged.
Italian banks .FTIT8300 , which have big holdings of
sovereign bonds, were an outperformer with a 1.2% gain, owing to
a recent surge in Italian government bond prices.
Trade headlines also swayed markets, with automakers .SXAP
jumping on a report that the Trump administration was
considering an interim deal with China, although CNBC said that
a senior White House official denied the report.
Offering relief to battered financial markets, President
Donald Trump said the United States would delay increasing
tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports by two weeks as
"a gesture of good will". Optimism about a de-escalation in the economically damaging
China-U.S. trade war and expectations of monetary stimulus from
the ECB have led major European indices to track higher this
week.
Energy stocks .SXEP were a big drag, falling 1.3%, as oil
prices fell on oversupply concerns. O/R
Among individual stocks, Anheuser-Busch InBev ABI.BR was
the biggest boost to the STOXX 600 after the company said it
would again explore an initial public offering in Hong Kong for
its Asia Pacific unit two months after cancelling the planned
listing. Conversely, transportation firm Alstom ALSO.PA fell 4.9%
after French conglomerate Bouygues BOUY.PA halved its stake in
the company.