Unilever rallied over 3 percent after its full-year sales figures beat expectations. The Anglo-Dutch maker of Knorr soups, Dove soap and Lipton teas said core operating profit rose by 0.9 billion euros to 7.9 billion euros, broadly in line with analysts’ expectations.
Chief executive of French oil and gas major Total, Patrick Pouyanne, said that the group’s full-year results are expected to fall, but no job losses are planned as a result of the commodity price downturn. Shares in the firm came off session highs to close up 1.4 percent.
Online supermarket Ocado spiked as much as 13 percent before paring gains after rumors that Amazon was weighing a bid for the retailer in an attempt to tackle a grocery delivery service in the U.K. Shares closed 6.8 percent up.
Italian bank shares continued the free-fall seen in Monday’s session, with shares in Banco Monte dei Paschi di Siena sinking over 14 percent after being temporarily suspended for a second consecutive day following rapid sharp losses.This follows a slump of 15 percent on Monday. Banco Popolare was also down over 6 percent, with other Italian and Portuguese banks also closing lower.
The dramatic falls are thought to be a result of investors worries that some Italian lenders to write down their portfolio of bad loans after the European Central Bank moved to request more information on their loan books.
Europe finishes higher as Brent recovers; Miners jump – CNBC
