BNP Paribas, France's biggest listed bank, reported a 20 percent rise in second-quarter net profit on Wednesday but its shares fell as concerns about US housing loans led markets lower.
The euro zone's second-biggest bank by market capitalisation said net profit rose to 2.28 billion euros ($3.13 billion), ahead of an average analyst net profit forecast of 2.06 billion euros. Gross operating profit rose 14 percent to 3.37 billion euros, while revenues rose 13 percent to 8.21 billion.
BNP Paribas benefited from record earnings at its investment bank arm. Profits were also boosted by growth in its asset management and French retail banking divisions as well as by last year's take-over of Italian bank BNL.
However, BNP Paribas shares were down 3.5 percent at 78.82 euros in mid-morning trade, as worries over the state of the US housing market caused a widespread fall in European stock markets and financial stocks.
Rising US house prices have propped up the world's largest economy in recent years, but concerns over losses related to subprime mortgages have sent shivers through the financial sector.
The DJ Stoxx European bank index was down 2.6 percent while France's benchmark CAC-40 fell 3 percent. Despite the fall in BNP Paribas's share price, analysts and investors remained upbeat over the company. The stock had closed up 3.1 percent on Tuesday ahead of the second quarter results.
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