European shares rise as miners shine; Fed minutes in focus

(Reuters) – European shares were flat on Wednesday as investors awaited the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting to further gauge the mood of policymakers, while basic resources kept the index afloat.

The pan-European index held its ground at 512.74 points by 0711 GMT, after snapping a five-day winning streak in the previous session.

All regional bourses opened flat and then moved slightly higher, rising between 0.1% and 0.2%.

Basic resources gained 1.2% after Shanghai aluminium futures scaled a five-week high, supported by tightness in raw materials supply. [MET/L]

With no data coming out of Europe on Wednesday, investors await the Fed minutes due later in the day that are expected to reinforce a dovish stance.

Preliminary revisions to U.S. labour data are also due to be published later in the day and a large downward revision is expected.

Among individual stocks, Voestalpine rose to the top of the European benchmark, gaining 3.8% after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the stock to “overweight” from “equal-weight”.

Alcon (NYSE:) lost 2.2% after the Swiss eye care company reported a smaller than expected increase in second-quarter sales.

Sonova Holding AG (OTC:) dropped 3.2% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to “underweight” from “equal-weight”.