European shares end mixed, off highs; miners rise

European stocks ended mixed yesterday and below the day's highs, hurt by weakness in US markets where profit concerns dominated, but miners tracked a rise in commodity prices.

Antofagasta gained 3 per cent, BHP Billiton advanced 2.2 per cent, and Xstrata rallied 5.5 per cent as copper prices rose to their highest in more than a month and gold jumped to a six-week high at $652 an ounce.

Among losers, Deutsche Post fell 2 per cent, as investment banks placed about 6 per cent of the German mail and logistics company's shares in the market.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares edged up 0.2 per cent to a provisional close of 1,311.6, after a day high of 1,322.3 points.

By the close of European trading hours, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.4 per cent, and the tech-laced Nasdaq Composite was down 0.8 per cent.

The European index has fallen 7 per cent from a near five-year high in May, but is still up 3 per cent this year.

Some fund managers such as New Star said the decline in European and UK equity markets in May was no cause for alarm and provided an opportunity to increase exposure to attractively valued stocks.

"Valuations are generally moderate, and sentiment remains broadly positive," said Daniel White, lead fund manager of the New Star Pan European equity fund.

Mr White said while there were potential concerns over a possible fall in US consumer confidence, resurgent inflation and further interest rate rises in the euro zone, the economic outlook was positive.

Around Europe, London's FTSE 100 index ended flat, Paris's CAC-40 rose 0.6 per cent, and Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.4 per cent.

Traders said miners were boosted by strong commodity prices and upbeat notes on the sector.

Oil services stocks also rose, with Norsk Hydro up 3.3 per cent, and OMV 2.9 per cent higher after Goldman Sachs raised its recommendation on the companies.

Online gambling firm PartyGaming advanced 4.3 per cent, with traders and analysts saying US moves to crack down on Internet gambling would be hard to put into effect.