The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was higher on Wednesday, but only by 0.9 points to 1,440.02 as investors were reluctant to do much ahead of new data on US employment, due to be released Thursday.
Banks were higher after Anglo Irish Bank said that its full-year pre-tax profits were higher than had been expected and predicted that its good performance will continue into next year. Anglo Irish was up 3.3 percent to €14.82. The announcement and forecast helped Allied Irish Banks to gain 1.7 percent to €21.67, while Bank of Ireland added 2.3 percent to €16.73.
Deutsche Post added 0.6 percent to €23.50 on positive broker comments after making presentations focusing on its DHL Express unit. Credit Suisse raised Deutsch Post’s target share price from €23.5 to €27, while Citigroup held its target share price at €21.50 but said there was a potential for valuation to rise.
In the oil sector, Norsk Hydro was 3 percent lower to NKr147.25 after it said that its production until 2010 will be lower than it previously estimated due to capacity limitations within the industry. Statoil followed Norsk down, falling 1.6 percent to NKr168.50.
Among telecommunications companies, Telecom Italia dropped 0.8 percent to €2.25 on a downgrade from “hold” to “sell” from ABN Amro, which cited operational weakness and limits on value creation.
French retailer PPR was 2.2 percent lower to €113.50 after a placement of 900,000 shares by Morgan Stanley.