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European shares steadied at 4-week lows on Thursday as investors digested a raft of mixed earnings updates and waited for the European Central Bank's decision on curbing its massive stimulus programme.
Nokia was the biggest faller, down 13.5 per cent, after the Finnish firm reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings from its mainstay networks gear business, saying the market had turned more challenging.
“Difficult to say at this stage how much lower consensus could go given all the negative wording on 2018", Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note.
Banks were also under pressure, down 0.3 per cent with Barclays tumbling as much as 7 per cent and set for its biggest one-day fall since the Brexit vote in June 2016.
The British bank posted worse than expected profit before tax for the third quarter of 1.1 billion pounds due to a weak trading performance by its investment bank.
Deutsche Bank fell 2.2 per cent. It posted a 10 per cent drop in revenue in the third-quarter, reflecting a weak market and the effects of a major restructuring.
Losses in Nokia and banks, however, were offset by gains among companies including MTU Aero Engines, Neste and STMicro following strong results.
The pan-European STOXX 600 benchmark index was flat at 387.19 points by 0840 GMT, while Britain's FTSE added 0.3 per cent and euro zone blue chips declined 0.2 per cent.
According to Thomson Reuters data, third quarter earning growth expectations for the STOXX 600 have declined to 3.4 per cent from around 10 per cent expected in July.
A country breakdown shows that earnings of UK companies in the pan-European index are expected to rise 11.2 per cent in the third quarter, compared to a fall of 11.8 per cent seen for France and a 0.6 per cent drop expected for Germany.
Italy's earnings growth is seen at 35 per cent.
A key focus later in the day will be the ECB's policy decision. The central bank is all but certain to cut back on its bond-buying stimulus, taking its biggest step yet in unwinding years of loose monetary policy. ($1 = 0.7554 pounds)
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