(MENAFN- AFP) Shares in energy companies slid Thursday after they announced falling profits on tumbling oil prices, though European markets were mostly higher overall.
London's FTSE 100 index, home to energy majors Royal Dutch Shell and BP, was down 0.17 percent to 6,814.61 points in midday deals.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 rose 0.28 percent to 10,740.49 points, as official data showed German unemployment fell in January to the lowest level since the country was reunited in 1990.
The CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.37 percent compared with Wednesday's close to 4,628.18 points.
Greek stocks were up 3.15 percent, recovering some lost ground after diving a day earlier.
Wednesday's 9.24-percent plunge hit Greece's biggest banks especially hard, with the sector's stocks losing one quarter of their market value.
"With no real news regarding Greek national debt being restructured or negotiated, traders are taking their cues from the Athens market by getting out of financial stocks to avoid another round of the debt crisis," said David Madden, market analyst at IG trading group.
Greek voters over the weekend handed a decisive victory to radical left party Syriza, putting the country on a collision course with the EU and international creditors over its bailout and giving rise to fears that the country could exit the eurozone -- what is being dubbed a "Grexit".
On Thursday, the euro jumped to $1.1313 from $1.1284 late in New York on Wednesday.
Asian stock markets mostly fell on Thursday, largely on the back of declines in the US triggered by concerns over a strengthening dollar and falling oil prices, traders said.
- Oil slumps again -
New York oil prices tumbled close to six-year lows on Thursday, as record-high US crude inventories deepened worries over the global supply glut.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery slumped to $44.21 a barrel, one cent above the March 2009 low of $44.20 hit two weeks ago.
The contract later stood at $44.44, down one cent from Wednesday's close.
European benchmark Brent North Sea crude for March rose 43 cents to stand at $48.90 a barrel in London midday deals.
The low prices weighed on energy majors, with Shell down 4.0 percent to 2,157 pence and BP losing 2.09 percent to 423.9 pence. French oil giant gave up 1.0 percent to 45.11 euros.
"Given the headwinds being felt by major oil companies around the world, the share price performance since the beginning of last year while uninspiring has still outperformed the oil price," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets dealing group.
Shell on Thursday announced an eight-percent drop in annual net profits owing to a slump in global oil prices and said it would accelerate spending cuts.
Profit after tax dropped to $15.05 billion (13.3 billion euros) in 2014 compared with the Anglo-Dutch company's performance one year earlier, slipping on plunging earnings in the fourth quarter as the cost of crude tumbled.
"Compared with the fourth quarter 2013, earnings... were impacted by the significant decline in (the price of) oil," Shell said in a statement.
Russia's gas giant Gazprom meanwhile announced its third-quarter profits plunged 61 percent as supplies were suspended to Ukraine, one of its main customers.
And Austrian energy firm OMV on Thursday said it would reduce by about one quarter its programme of investments in the medium term.
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