European shares up on hopes Britain will reject no-deal Brexit

LONDON: European shares gradually edged up in morning trading on Wednesday on expectations that British lawmakers would vote to reject a disorderly no-deal Brexit.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.1 percent by 0957 GMT, as was London's FTSE 100, while the pound recouped some of its losses.

Lawmakers resoundlingly voted against Prime Minister Theresa May's amended Brexit deal late on Tuesday, forcing parliament to decide whether to back a no-deal Brexit or seek a last-minute delay to the process.

"I think the market can see that today Parliament is going to vote against no deal", said Duncan Weldon, cross asset allocation strategist at Legal & General Investment.

"I think a lot of people who don't have to be invested in the UK are sitting this one out for the moment", he added.

Among individual stocks, shares in Austria's Verbund  posted the worst performance, falling 6.5 percent after the hydropower specialist said full-year core profit fell as it produced less electricity in a long dry summer period.

Another big loser was cash-rich Zara owner Inditex which was down 4.8 percent after it published annual earnings slightly below analysts' expectations.

Wirecard also sustained heavy losses with a 4.3 percent hit after it suspended an accounting employee in Singapore amid allegations of fraud and creative accounting.

Germany's Adidas lost 3.1 percent after announcing that supply chain issues would hit its sales growth in the first half of 2019, particularly in North America.

Shares in Norwegian Air dipped 0.6 percent after it said it would seek compensation from plane maker Boeing for lost revenue and extra costs after grounding its fleet of 737 MAX 8 aircraft in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals fell 4.3 percent as full-year core operating profit fell short of analysts expectations.