German equities edged higher but the mood in Frankfurt was subdued ahead of tomorrow's meeting of the European Central Bank. The Xetra DAX index ended up 6.16 at 4,895.11 after another slow session.
Although the dollar continued to track record highs against the euro, the market remained hesitant as the euro's plight and renewed talk of European interest rates bottoming out kept investors on the sidelines.
BMW stayed firm, rising €1.90 to €747.6 for a three-day gain of 6 per cent amid continued speculation that rival motor groups were keen to link up with the leading German marque.
Paris ended little changed with the CAC-40 down 12.87 to 4,052.32, but a stream of company news helped deliver selective performances.
Eurotunnel gained 20 cents or a steep 17.7 per cent to €1.33 in 81.2 million shares traded on reports that French financier Mr Vincent Bollore was buying shares. Mr Bollore denied the claim and Ferri-BBL, one of the brokers buying the stocks declined to comment.
CCF, the bank seen as a takeover target, climbed for the third day running on continued speculation that Dutch bank ING was considering buying it out. The shares gained €4 to €79.95.
Among the losers, Rhone-Poulenc retreated €1.20 to €41.80 on unconfirmed reports that the Kuwaiti government, one of the main shareholders in Germany's Hoechst, disapproved of its plans to merge with the French chemical company.
Amsterdam ended 0.47 lower at 522.84 on the AEX, with a 2.7 per cent setback at Royal Dutch, off 90 cents at €38.50, accounting for much of the fall.
Zurich added 26.7 at 7,015.2 on the SMI index. Credit Suisse Group pushed higher on news of a $650 million (€581.6 million) expansion by acquisition of its US operations. It ended SFr3.75 (€2.35) better at SFr228.75 (€143.19) after a session high of SFr230 (€143.97).
Drugs leaders were mixed. Novartis continued to meet with foreign selling, slipping SFr11 (€6.89) to SFr2,531 (€1,584) while Roche gained SFr355 (€222) at SFr18,210 (€11,399). Watchmaker Tag Heuer ran up against a downgrade from Paribas Private Banking, losing SFr1.75 (€1.10) at SFr117.50 (€73.55).
Stockholm ended 0.9 per cent better, with the general index up 28.52 to 3,303.49.
Helsinki took heart from strength in the telecom sector and a positive first half-session on Wall Street, with the Hex index ending 56.80 ahead at 5,967.23.
