European shares edged up slightly on Wednesday after rebounding strongly in the previous session, with the telecom sector getting a big lift from deal-making and takeover talk.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.2 per cent at 0735 GMT at 1,609.40 points, holding on to Tuesday’s gains driven by speculation that the European Central Bank’s bond-buying plan could be rolled out more aggressively than expected.

“European equities are trading little changed this morning... It wouldn’t come as too much of a surprise if stocks take a bit of a breather,’’ said Markus Huber, senior sales trader at Peregrine & Black.

French telecom group Altice surged 7 per cent after agreeing to buy Suddenlink in a $9.1-billion deal to enter the fast-growing US cable sector. Vodafone was up 3.8 per cent after Liberty Global’s chairman was quoted as saying it would be a “great fit’’.

Altice’s French rivals Orange and Bouygues fell more than 1.5 per cent.

Merger talk also lifted German retailer Metro after a source familiar with the matter told Reuters the owner of German department store chain Karstadt has made a new takeover offer for Metro-owned Kaufhof.

Financials were also in focus, with Switzerland’s UBS up 3 per cent after saying it had settled a probe by US authorities over alleged rigging of currency markets by agreeing to pay $545 million in combined fines and pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in a separate matter.

The Swiss bank’s disclosure comes as part of what is expected to be a combined bill of more than $5 billion and criminal charges for five of the world’s biggest banks in a settlement with US and British authorities over the foreign exchange probe.

Luxury-goods group Burberry sank almost 4 per cent after it lowered its 2016 retail and wholesale profit guidance due to foreign exchange movements and said it was seeing increased uncertainty in some markets, taking the shine off forecast-beating results.

Britain’s second-biggest energy supplier SSE delivered higher full-year earnings as its energy supply and network businesses made stronger profits, allowing it to pay its shareholders a higher dividend.

Greek shares were down 0.4 per cent as EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said debt talks between Greece and its lenders must be accelerated to reach a deal in the coming weeks.

Related Topics