Unilever and Deutsche Telekom contrast amid earnings deluge By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares posted modest losses on Thursday after the Bank of England expanded its asset buying program and the European Central Bank kept its key rate on hold on another hectic day for corporate earnings. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP 237.99, -1.14, -0.48%) declined 0.3% to 238.35, off early lows. The index closed up 1.8% on Wednesday. In a busy week for central bank news, the Bank of England extended its quantitative-easing measures by 25 billion pounds on Thursday, bringing the total program to 200 billion pounds. See full story. "I think what this indicates is that the Bank of England has drawn attention to signs that the economy is starting to improve but it's clearly keen to keep the foot gently on the accelerator," said Andrew Bell, strategist at Rensburg Sheppards Investment Management. "It's a little bit of insurance. If it stopped the program, it's not sure how the market would react," he said. Other central banks also appeared unwilling to make waves, with the European Central Bank leaving interest rates on hold on Thursday. On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve promised again to keep interest rates exceptionally low for an extended period. See full story. On a regional level, the German DAX index (DX:DAX 5,422, -22.66, -0.42%) lost 0.3% to 5,429.74, the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 3,659, -11.03, -0.30%) lost 0.2% to 3,662.52 and the U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,080, -27.69, -0.54%) declined 0.4% to 5,088.12. U.S. stock futures were mildly higher. Turning to earnings and Unilever (UK:ULVR 1,782, -47.00, -2.57%) (UL 29.70, -0.52, -1.72%) shares fell 2.5%. It posted a drop in third-quarter net to 1.05 billion euros, after asset sales flattered a profit of 1.64 billion euros reported in the year-earlier period. See full story. There were several sets of results from the insurance sector and stocks dropped on Thursday: Zurich Financial (CH:ZURN 225.40, -12.80, -5.37%) lost 5.7%, Munich Re (DE:MUV2 106.06, -1.62, -1.50%) shares fell 1.1% and Old Mutual (UK:OML 108.00, -3.00, -2.70%) slid 2.7%. Read story on insurance sector sales. Read more on insurance earnings. Petroplus (CH:PPHN 21.90, -0.90, -3.95%) shares fell 4.2% in Swiss trading, It posted a wider-than-expected third-quarter net loss of $259.4 million although this was narrower than the year-ago $445.6 million loss. In the telecom sector Cable & Wireless (UK:CW. 135.90, -12.00, -8.11%) shares fell 8.1% after it lowered its fiscal 2010 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization guidance. Still, shares of Deutsche Telekom (DE:DTE 9.56, +0.24, +2.58%) (DT 14.22, +0.53, +3.87%) advanced 2.8% after its third-quarter net income rose 7.2% to 959 million euros, beating analyst forecasts, after tight cost controls. It also stuck to its fiscal-year outlook. Shares in Swedish carrier SAS (SE:SAS 4.27, +0.06, +1.43%) jumped 7.5%. The airline swung to a third-quarter profit of 152 million kronor ($21 million), against a loss of 1.99 billion kronor in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell 17% to 11.08 billion kronor as fares dropped on lower demand for business travel and increased competition. Belgian supermarket operator Delhaize Group (BE:DELB 49.68, +2.67, +5.67%) rose 6.2%. It reported a 28% rise in third-quarter net income to 128 million euros ($190 million), topping analyst estimates. Revenue for the group rose 4.8% to 4.9 billion euros at actual exchange rates as the dollar strengthened versus the euro. Ahold (NL:AH 9.08, +0.38, +4.31%) , which operates supermarkets in the Netherlands and the U.S., jumped 4.7% after announcing that it will reorganize its U.S. and European operations as its positions itself to make acquisitions.

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