European shares hit by Bayer, Lufthansa; FTSE shines

European shares slipped on Tuesday as grim forecasts from German giants Bayer and Lufthansa soured sentiment, while a battered pound helped London's blue-chip index outperform for a second day.

Bayer slipped 4.4% as it became the latest agricultural supplies company to be affected by flooded farms in the United States and by trade disputes, saying its full-year earnings target has become harder to reach. Taking other airlines down with it, Germany's Lufthansa dropped 3.5% after posting a decline in second-quarter earnings and saying that the European market was likely to remain challenging this year.

A GfK survey also showed German consumer morale worsening for the third month in a row heading into August as trade disputes and a global economic slowdown bit in Europe's biggest exporter. Combined, that pushed Germany's main stocks index 0.2% lower by 0713 GMT, while the pan-European stocks benchmark fell 0.2%.

London's blue-chip FTSE 100 index touched 11-month highs, helped by a 3% jump in shares in energy giant BP.