Earlier, European stocks rose on expectations about a rescue
for Greece after news that European Central Bank President
Jean-Claude Trichet was leaving a meeting of central bankers in
Australia early to attend a European Union leaders' summit in
Brussels this Thursday.
ECB, however, said Trichet was changing his plans and return
to Europe purely because of logistics.
Greek bank shares <.FTATBNK>, after falling for four
straight sessions, surged 8.6 percent, with Alpha Bank <ACBr.AT>
up 14.9 percent and EFG Eurobank <EFGr.AT> up 10.9 percent.
"This is a little bit overblown ... you know it's going to
be bailout eventually. Is it the EU? Is it the IMF? It doesn't
matter. They are not going to default," said Robert Quinn,
European strategist at Standard & Poor's equity research.
"What we are waiting on is a political solution, not an
economic solution ... They have a different time scale."
A senior German ruling coalition source said after the
European market close that euro zone countries have decided in
principle to help debt-stricken Greece.[ID:nLDE6182EG]
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <.FTSE> put on 0.4
percent, Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> added 0.2 percent and France's
CAC 40 <.FCHI> rose 0.2 percent.
MINERS UP, DEFENSIVES DOWN
Miners were in demand, with Anglo American <AAL.L>, Rio
Tinto <RIO.L>, BHP Billiton <BLT.L> and Eurasian Natural
Resources <ENRC.L> up 1.5 to 3.7 percent.
Defensive shares, such as drugmakers, utilities, tobacco
firms and telecoms, were also weaker, with investors favouring
beaten-down banks. Unilever <ULVR.L>, E.ON <EONGn.DE>, Novartis
<NOVN.VX> and Imperial Tobacco <IMT.L> eased 0.2 to 1.6 percent.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca <AZN.L>, however, was up 1.3 percent
after U.S. approval for expanded use of Crestor strengthened its
position in the highly competitive cholesterol drug market.
Among other individual movers, Swatch Group <UHR.VX> soared
4.8 percent after it posting forecast-beating full-year profit
and maintained a positive outlook for 2010, easing worries a
flagging economic recovery may hit demand.
Wind turbine maker Vestas <VWS.CO> surged 7.8 percent on
news of a planned roadshow for bond investors and a Canadian
order, traders said.
On the downside, Unibal-Rodamco <UNBP.PA> shed 6 percent
after the Franco-Dutch property group issued disappointing 2010
guidance with its annual profits.
(Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)