European shares rose at the opening session on Tuesday, the earnings season got off to a rocky start with profit warnings from BT Group and Aryzta sending their shares sharply lower.
Overall, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.1 per cent in early trading, while Britain's blue chip FTSE 100 index was flat in percentage terms. Those moves masked a busy day for single stocks.
Shares in insurer Generali were the biggest gainers, up 8.3 per cent after the insurer bought 3.0 per cent of Intesa Sanpaolo's share capital to fend off a reported takeover.
Generali's biggest shareholder Mediobanca gained 7.4 per cent.
While basic resources were the biggest sectoral risers, gaining on the back of a weaker dollar,
BT fell more than 16 per cent after the telecoms firm cut forecasts for 2017 and 2018 after finding that inappropriate accounting behaviour in its Italian business went far deeper than previously thought.
Tuesday's losses were poised to wipe out more than $8 billion off BT's market value.
Budget airline easy Jet was another top faller, down 7.2 per cent after reporting its first quarter earnings.
A miss in fourth quarter earnings also weighed on Philips, which dropped 3.3 per cent. The medical equipment maker also disclosed a conflict with the US government over defibrillators it sold in 2015 and before.
A UK Supreme Court's ruling later in the day on whether British Prime Minister Theresa May can start the Brexit process without parliamentary approval will likely set the tone for the rest of the trading day, according to Reuters.
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