European shares listless as traders digest mixed bag of earnings

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.

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%.