By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European equities stepped slightly lower
Wednesday, with downgrades within the mining and banking sectors
clipping some stocks ahead of commentary about monetary policy from
the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.1% at 328.18, and has swayed
between gains and losses since the start of the session.
The statement from the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee, due
later Wednesday, may be a source of "high levels of volatility,"
said Sam Fox from financial sales at Spreadex, in a note.
Analysts widely expect the Fed to "cut a further $10 billion
from its quantitative easing program; therefore we can expect
global markets to be quite jittery upon the release of this
statement," said Fox.
The Fed's new chairwoman, Janet Yellen, will hold an
accompanying press conference, and investors will look for any
indication on the Fed's view of the pace of U.S. and global
growth.
Among country-specific indexes, Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.3%
to 9,265.43, and France's CAC 400 index lost 0.2% to 4,306.47.
London's FTSE 100 was off 0.2% at 6,589.47, holding to losses
after the release of minutes from the Bank of England's most recent
meeting showed officials voted unanimously to keep monetary policy
on hold. Separately, the U.K. unemployment rate stood unchanged at
7.2% in the three months to January, as expected, and jobless
claims continued to fall in February, according to data from the
Office for National Statistics.
The British pound (GBPUSD) rose against the U.S. dollar after
the data.
Among individual issues, shares of HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC) lost
1% after Credit Suisse cut the banking firm to underperform from
outperform, citing disappointment that the group hasn't been able
to capitalize on its strengths "in terms of funding, liquidity and
exposure to global trade".
London-listed shares of Antofagasta PLC dropped 3.8% in the wake
of ratings cuts by Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, a day after the
Chilean copper producer posted a decline in earnings.
"We believe Antofagasta's earnings and cash-flow growth is muted
in the medium term and that further 'bumper' dividends are unlikely
whilst capex rises and net cash is eroded," said Deutsche Bank
research analyst Anna Mulholland in a note to clients.
Smiths Group PLC slid 6.1% after the technology firm's profit
fell during the first half of its fiscal year.
Russia's blue-chip MICEX index rose 4.1% to 1,335.86, adding to
Tuesday's nearly 4% advance after Russian President Vladimir Putin
signaled he doesn't want to split Ukraine.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires