LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares ended with small gains Thursday, consolidating after steep declines in the previous session triggered by concerns over economic growth.
"Economic indicators are sending conflicting messages at the moment, suggesting uncertain times ahead," said asset managers at Gartmore
The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended with a gain of 0.1%, or 0.26 point, at 254.94 after fluctuating between small gains and losses over the course of the day.
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Stocks tumbled 2% in Europe Wednesday following downbeat comments from central bankers and data from Asia.
Thursday gave investors more reasons to be wary about the economic backdrop, as data showed that euro-zone industrial production dropped 0.1% in June and Greece's economy contracted 1.5% in second quarter. Read more on European data. Read more on U.S. data.
Banks were broadly lower, with Bank of Ireland shares falling 1.8% and Allied Irish Banks down 1.3% after a media report that the European Central Bank stepped in and purchased short-dated Irish government bonds. Read story about Ireland and renewed sovereign-debt worries.
The Irish Iseq 20 index lost 0.3% to 466.74.
Of the major regional benchmarks, the German DAX index declined 0.3% to close at 6,135.17, the French CAC-40 index lost 0.2% to end at 3,621.07 and the U.K. FTSE 100 index settled 0.4% higher at 5,266.06.
Asian shares ended lower and U.S. stocks were lower after U.S. first-time weekly jobless claims ticked up and Cisco Systems Inc. reported sales that disappointed investors and took a cautious stance on the future.
In the European technology sector, Franco-American telecom equipment firm Alcatel-Lucent lost 0.7% and microchip-maker Infineon Technologies fell 1.1%.
Other stocks tied to economic growth also declined, with automaker Daimler down 2.8%.
Vedanta Resources shares fell 7.5% in the mining sector after oil exploration company Cairn Energy , which rose 1.8%, said that the two firms are in talks over its Cairn India unit.
Earnings received a mixed reaction, with RWE AG , falling 1% after the German utility reported an 8% drop in first-half profit to 2 fast cash advance loan.04 billion euros ($2.63 billion) and announced it will reassess its medium-term goals following government plans to introduce a nuclear fuel tax. Read more on RWE.
Aker Solutions shares fell 9.6% after the engineering firm reported its second-quarter profit dropped to 445 million Norwegian kroner ($72.1 million), a larger-than-expected decline.
Aegon shares lost 3.5%. The Dutch insurance firm swung to a second-quarter profit of €413 million, but said it's cautious on the outlook. Read more on Aegon earnings.
Global Dow
• MarketWatch Topics: Greece • Asia Markets | Europe Markets | Lat. Am. • Canadian Markets | Israel Stocks | London • U.S.: Market Snapshot | After Hours • Latin American/Canadian indexes • European indexes | Asian indexes • Bond Report | Oil News | Earnings Watch • Currencies | U.S. Economic CalendarStill, German solar firm Q-Cells rose 10.7% after it swung to a quarterly net profit of €35.2 million. It also lifted its fiscal-year sales guidance.
Shares of world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev jumped 5.4% after it posted a 7.3% rise in second-quarter net profit to $1.15 billion.
The firm said good weather and the World Cup helped drive a stronger-than-expected 2.1% increase in volumes during the quarter. Read more on AB InBev earnings.
Also in the food sector, Danone shares gained 1.5%. Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods said it has reached an agreement to repurchase Danone's stake in the firm for $470 million.
Defensive telecoms were also firm, with Deutsche Telekom shares gaining 2.6% and Portugal Telecom rising 2.8%.
Strategists at Barclays Capital said they are still positive on European equities, which they believe are severely undervalued.
"European equities trade at multi-decade valuation lows relative to cash, government bonds, investment grade and high-yield credit and U.S. equities," they noted.
Europe Markets: European shares edge higher in choppy session
