European shares recovered from a weak start on Tuesday, buoyed by a rise on Wall Street, though weak earnings from Standard Chartered and UBS dampened sentiment in the banking sector. Standard Chartered slid 6.7 percent after saying it wants to raise $5.1 billion in new capital through a rights issue and cut 15,000 jobs by 2018 as new chief executive Bill Winters tries to restore profitability, hit by a slowdown in emerging markets.
Investec analysts described news of a third-quarter operating loss of $139 million as "awful". Consensus estimates were for a 903 million pound profit. "As we feared, the worst aspect ... is a broad-based collapse in revenues," they said in a note. "Standard Chartered has already been the worst performing FTSE 100 bank in 2015 year-to-date, but we expect it to see further significant underperformance in the aftermath of today's Q3 2015 results."
Shares in UBS fell 4.3 percent after Switzerland's biggest bank posted a bigger-than-anticipated year-on-year rise in third quarter net profit, but watered down its full-year targets. Some analysts expressed concerns over a lower-than-expected capital ratio and the fact that results had been flattered by a tax benefit. Shares in Italy's biggest retail bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, fell 1.1 percent after it posted lower net interest income in the third quarter and a slump in profit.
Analysts said that core revenues were worse than expected, noting that many would now cut estimates for full-year operating numbers. In all, the STOXX Europe 600 Banking sector was down 0.5 percent, placing it among the top sectoral fallers. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.4 percent to 1,494.21 points, tracking gains in US stocks to turn higher. The eurozone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index also rose 0.4 percent.
Top riser was Coloplast, up 9 percent after results that were better than expected, even as it posted a loss due to provisions for lawsuits. Shares in German carmaker Volkswagen shares fell 1.5 percent after an emissions scandal widened to include its luxury brands Porsche and Audi.
The US Environmental Protection Agency said late on Monday it was now also looking at 3.0-litre V6 diesel engines. VW took issue with the findings, saying "no software has been installed" in such engines "to alter emissions characteristics in a forbidden manner". Some traders and analysts said they would still avoid VW shares while the issue remained unresolved, with Credit Suisse keeping an "underperform" rating. "I would steer clear of any rebound in VW shares until the dust settles. At the moment, trading VW is like trying to catch a falling knife," Mirabaud Securities' Rupert Baker said. Among risers, Shell forecast higher savings from its planned take-over of BG, boosting shares in both energy groups, while Swiss travel retailer Dufry rose 5.9 percent after reporting higher sales and profits.
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