(Reuters) – European shares opened flat on Thursday, as losses in shipping giant Maersk and drugmaker Astrazeneca following dour results partially countered strong performances by consumer staples including Unilever.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index held its ground at 485.55 points, as of 0827 GMT.
The personal and household goods index led advances among sectors, lifted by a 3.3% jump in Unilever after the Dove soap maker launched a 1.5-billion-euro share buyback programme and posted a rise in fourth-quarter sales.
Adding to the sector’s gains, British American Tobacco rose nearly 6% after the tobacco giant trounced full-year profit estimate.
Eclipsing the gains, heavyweight healthcare stocks led declines in the benchmark index, dragged by a nearly 2% fall in AstraZeneca after the British drugmaker missed quarterly profit estimate.
Maersk was also a massive drag, down 12.7%, after the shipping giant missed fourth-quarter profit expectations and flagged that its 2024 earnings will come below last year’s levels amid an oversupply of container vessels.
Shares of its peer Hapag Lloyd slumped 10.4%.
(Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
