By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares rose modestly on Tuesday, as BP led a strong performance from the oil and gas sector, with the move offsetting more losses for banks.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP 242.56, +0.72, +0.30%) rose 0.5% to 242.96, taking back some steep losses made late in the previous session when banks led the index to a 1.3% loss by the end of the session.
Banks were still weak on Tuesday, with Dutch financial services group ING (NL:INGA 8.60, -0.94, -9.82%) (ING 12.69, -3.27, -18.83%) extending sharp losses made Monday after it announced restructuring and equity issuance plans with another 5.4% fall.
However, a 5% rise for shares of integrated oil giant BP (UK:BP. 593.70, +26.80, +4.73%) (BP 55.48, +0.06, +0.11%) after it reported a forecast-beating adjusted third-quarter profit boosted the oil and gas sector.
Excluding the impact of unsold inventories, BP said its profit would have dropped 50% to $4.98 billion in a quarter that included $307 million of non-operating items and fair value accounting effects. Analyst estimates were for a profit around $3.2 billion.
BP said its production rose 7% to 3.92 million barrels of oil equivalent a day on a "strong" operational performance and the absence of hurricanes. Refinery throughput improved as well. See full story.
Shares of Total (FR:FP 42.68, +0.84, +2.01%) (TOT 62.09, -1.34, -2.11%) rose 1.7% in Paris and Royal Dutch Shell (UK:RDSA 1,920, +19.00, +1.00%) (RDS.A 61.78, -0.37, -0.60%) shares climbed 1.3%, also in London.
The U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,207, +15.12, +0.29%) rose 0.5% to 5,216.63, the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 3,752, +7.96, +0.21%) rose 0.3% to 3,786.15 and the German DAX index (DX:DAX 5,649, +6.68, +0.12%) advanced 0.2% to 5,654.85.
Asian shares were weak after the U.S, equity market also sold off sharply on Monday. U.S. stock futures were mildly higher on Tuesday. See Asia Markets.
Elsewhere, Dutch chemicals and paint maker Akzo Nobel (NL:AKZA 42.71, -2.39, -5.34%) shares declined 3.9%. Its third-quarter net profit rose 30% to 197 million euros ($293 million) as cost reductions offset a 10% revenue fall to 3.64 billion euros, with volumes down 8%. It also had 39 million euros of one-time costs.
Akzo Nobel said the recovery was "fragile" as it held onto end-2011 target of a 14% EBITDA margin, compared to 13% over the first nine months of the year.
