UPDATE 2-European shares inch up in languid pre-Christmas trade

* BoE holds, Riksbank raises interest rates
* Italy's Nexi leads gains on the STOXX 600
* Healthcare, oil and gas sectors lead gains

(Updates comment, adds details on BoE decision)
By Ambar Warrick
LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - European shares inched up in thin
trade on Thursday, as a handful of corporate updates and central
bank meetings gave little impetus for larger moves.
Markets held slightly below highs touched earlier in the
week when a Sino-U.S. trade agreement and a victory for the
Conservatives in a UK general election spurred buying.
Renewed fears of a no-deal Brexit, brought about by Prime
Minister Boris Johnson's setting of a hard Dec. 2020 deadline
for a trade deal, lent an air of caution as investors looked to
the new year for fresh cues.
The benchmark STOXX 600 .STOXX index was just 0.1% higher,
with healthcare .SXDP and oil stocks .SXEP leading gains,
while automobile stocks .SXAP were the worst performers.
"It's very much a period of digestion of (last week's) news,
and maybe thoughts for 2020, rather than anybody looking to do
much before the year-end," said Roger Jones, head of equities
at London and Capital Equity Solutions and Equity Funds.
Italian payments services provider Nexi NEXII.MI rose 4.7%
and was the top gainer on the STOXX 600 after lender Intesa
SanPaolo ISP.MI agreed to sell it its payments business for 1
billion euros ($1.11 billion).
Swiss specialty chemicals maker Clariant CLN.S rose 2.1%
after saying it was selling a unit to U.S.-based PolyOne Corp
POL.N for $1.6 billion. Data Respons DAT.OL jumped 20% after AKKA Technologies
AKA.PA agreed to buy the Norwegian software company for around
3.7 billion Norwegian crowns ($404 million) in cash.
NMC Health NMC.L was the worst performer on the STOXX 600,
extending losses after short-seller Muddy Waters took aim at the
stock. Export-oriented UK bluechip stocks .FTSE rose on weakness
in the pound GDP= , while domestically focused stocks .FTMC
were largely unchanged.
The Bank of England left its benchmark rate unchanged, as
expected, saying it was too soon to gauge how much Johnson's
election victory would lift the Brexit uncertainty that has hung
over the economy. Sweden's central bank became the first in Europe to move
rates out of sub-zero territory. It raised its benchmark repo
rate a quarter point to zero on Thursday, as expected.