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Date: Thursday 15 May 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - European shares were flat midday with banks in the limelight once again after Barclays refused to rule out a rights issue.

Barclays saw first quarter profits fall after the banking giant revealed £1bn worth of new credit crunch related write-downs. The write-down for its investment banking unit is net of a £700m gain on the fair valuation of notes issued by Barclays Capital.

KBC was lower after the Belgian banking and insurance group saw first quarter profits fall by 44% and suspended its share buyback programme.

French bank Natixis advanced after it posted a net profit of €69m in the first quarter, while some analysts had expected the group would swing to a loss.

Shares in Hennes & Mauritz dropped as the clothing retailer’s April sales figures failed to meet forecasts.

A wider than expected first quarter net loss had German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere in the red.

The German Dax fell 4 points to 7,078, the French CAC is down 9 points to 5,045, while the Swiss market gained 67 points to 7,661.

In economic news, euro zone GDP rose a better than anticipated 0.7% in the first quarter from the previous quarter, helped by strong growth in Germany.

• News Channel