[BENGALURU] European shares ended flat on Wednesday after swinging between gains and losses through the day, with strength in banks and auto stocks offset by weakness in the technology and healthcare sectors.
Bank stocks rallied 0.8 per cent after the European Central Bank said it could further delay an interest rate hikes and may look at measures to mitigate the side-effects of sub-zero rates.Sources told Reuters the measured could include a so-called tiered deposit rate that would exempt banks in part from paying the ECB's 0.40 per cent annual charge on excess reserves, an din turn boost their profits.
"The yield curve is very much playing on people's minds," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda in London."Investors are very edgy right now and while we have seen a very strong recovery from the Q4 sell-off of last year, we're still not breaking new highs at this stage." Daimler AG rose almost 2 per cent as it neared the sale of a 50 per cent stake in its small-car brand Smart to China's Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd.