Tesco shares up, Metro AG also higher after results By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares edged lower on Tuesday, as losses in the auto and oil sectors and a less-than-impressive start to the U.S. earnings season offset results from British supermarket giant Tesco and German retailer Metro. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP 257.45, -1.36, -0.53%) declined 0.3% to 247.98, the second straight session of losses. Oil futures declined in electronic trading, down 33 cents at $82.19 a barrel, pressuring oil producers. BP (UK:BP. 631.10, -4.36, -0.69%) (BP 61.89, +1.89, +3.15%) shares were down 0.9% on the London Stock Exchange. Autos were also weak, with Renault (FR:RNO 38.25, -0.96, -2.45%) shares down 1.6% on Euronext Paris. On a regional level in Europe, the U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,516, -22.10, -0.40%) traded down 0.2% at 5,527.41, the German DAX index (DX:DAX 6,000, -40.12, -0.66%) declined 0.5% to 6,010.95 and the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 4,025, -18.11, -0.45%) lost 0.2% to 4,033.24. Asian equity markets were mixed on Tuesday, with Japanese stocks higher. U.S. stock futures were lower after a lackluster start to the U.S. earnings season on Monday when metals giant Alcoa (AA 17.45, +0.43, +2.53%) posted weaker-than-expected results. Miners were lower in Europe after the results, with Eurasian Natural Resources (UK:ENRC 992.50, -17.50, -1.73%) down 1%. Tuesday's notable gainers included Tesco (UK:TSCO 427.55, +9.35, +2.24%) , up 2.1% on the London Stock Exchange. The firm's U.K. comparable sales excluding fuel but including sales tax increased 5.1% in the six weeks to Jan 9. Adjusted for sales tax, sales rose 4.9%. That topped analyst expectations for sales growth of 3.3%. "Tesco trades broadly in line with its U.K. peers despite having superior long-term growth prospects from international and retailing-services businesses," said Bernstein analyst Christopher Hogbin. Meanwhile, Metro AG (DE:MEO 41.76, +0.27, +0.65%) shares rose 1.6% on the Xetra exchange. Sales in local currency terms grew by 0.2% in 2009 compared to the previous year and Metro said it expects 2009 EBIT before special items to be in line with market expectations. It wasn't all good news in the retail sector. Game Group (UK:GMG 98.85, -6.71, -6.34%) shares fell 6.2% after its comparable sales fell 13.8% in the 5 weeks to Jan. 9. "The negative trends in the PC and video games market, outlined in our previous trading statement, continued over the key Christmas selling period despite strong software releases and a sizeable installed base of hardware," the firm said. French video games firm Ubisoft (FR:UBI 10.28, -0.57, -5.25%) declined 5.1% on the Euronext Paris exchange. Cadbury (UK:CBRY 781.00, +0.50, +0.06%) shares were little changed at 781 pence after it said 2009 performance was well ahead of market expectations and reiterated its rejection of Kraft Foods' (KFT 28.80, -0.13, -0.45%) takeover offer.

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