Major stock markets outside the United States ended on Wednesday.
Bid talk led shares in France's second-largest bank Societe Generale higher amid an otherwise weaker trading financial sector. Traders speculated about a potential bid by HSBC ahead of SocGen's planned capital increase. HSBC declined to comment.
Meanwhile, shares in BHP Billiton fell more than 7 percent after bid target Rio Tinto rejected a sweetened all-share bid from the rival mining group BHP Billiton. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed 0.58 percent higher at 1,322.00 points.