European shares steady as Sainsbury’s soars

European shares steadied on Tuesday in early deals, with retail stocks back in focus after a well-received update from British grocer Sainsbury, though Cobham tanked.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was flat in percentage terms, as was the blue-chip FTSE 100, which held close to a record high of 7,284.81 points reached in the previous session.

Sainsbury’s was the top gainer, jumping more than 5 per cent after Britain’s second biggest supermarket beat forecasts for underlying sales in its Christmas quarter.

This follows peer Morrison’s strong performance in the previous session after the company too reported robust figures.

Earnings also buoyed shares in Denmark’s Chr Hansen , which gained 4.6 per cent.

British aero engineering firm Cobham slumped more than 19 per cent, however, after it missed its profit target and scrapped its final dividend.

Cobham’s 2016 trading profit fell short of a target it had cut just two months before the year-end because of poor trading.