European shares ended off session highs on Wednesday in thin trade, as investors pared gains on a report euro zone officials were considering delaying the second Greek bailout until after the country holds elections in April. The market had earlier hit fresh six month highs after the Greek conservative party gave a commitment letter to the European Union and IMF on implementing the new austerity package.
Better-than-expected economic data from Germany and France had also earlier helped buoy investor sentiment about the euro zone. "The market does not like it - if Greece cannot get a bailout by mid-March it effectively has a messy default," said Richard Batty, strategist at Standard Life Investments, which has $248.37 billion of assets under management.
However, strong results powered gains by French bank BNP Paribas and brewer Heineken. BNP was off earlier session highs following the Greek report, but forecast-beating figures kept it in the top movers list, up 4.1 percent. The FTSEurofirst 300 index closed up 0.6 percent at 1,075.75 points in volume 79.2 percent of its 90-day daily average having been up as much as 1,080.30 after the commitment letter. Heineken hit a six-month high after it reported a higher-than-expected 2011 net profit in volume four fold its 90-day daily average.
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