European shares ended slightly higher on Tuesday, after impressive quarterly results from Tesco outweighed shaky financial stocks.
The FTSEurofirst 300 of top European shares closed 0.2% higher at 787.52 points. It slipped 3.5% on Monday after rising for six consecutive weeks.
Tesco jumped 4.9% after reporting a 10% rise in profits to 3.13 billion pounds ($US4.5 billion).
Tesco employs more than 440,000 people in 4000 stores in 14 countries.
Other retail stocks also advanced: Metro AG gained 2.8%, J Sainsbury was up 1.6% and Ahold rose by 2.3%.
Financial stocks fell after a report from the International Monetary Fund that global writedowns of bad debt among banks and other financial institutions in the United States, Europe and Japan could reach $US4.1 trillion.
In Frankfurt, the DAX index ended at 4,501.63 points, up 15.33 or 0.34%.
In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 2,973.94 points, up 4.54 or 0.15%. The Swiss market index closed at 5,076.72 points, up 11.54 or 0.23%.
In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 3,987.46 points, down 3.4 or 0.09%.
