LONDON (Reuters) - European shares inched higher on Thursday as better-than-expected results from chipmaker STMicro delivered a boost to the tech sector, while oil stocks weighed on the market.
The pan-European STOXX 600 (STOXX) gained 0.1 percent by 0843 GMT, in line with Germany's DAX (GDAXI) while Britain's FTSE 100 (FTSE) fell 0.4 percent.
Chipmaker STMicroelectronics (MI:STM) jumped 7 percent after reporting a fourth-quarter margin slightly above targets, though it predicted a sharp fall in first-quarter sales.
The tech sector (SX8P) climbed 1.4 percent as investors pounced on the bit of good news from chipmakers which have been grappling with slowing demand.
AMS (S:AMS), Siltronic (DE:WAFGn), Infineon (DE:IFXGn), ASML (AS:ASML) jumped 3.7 percent to 73 percent.
Disappointing results dented some.
Shares in Danish pharmaceuticals company Novozymes (CO:NZYMb) fell 4.3 percent, the biggest STOXX fallers, after the CFO said Middle East markets were likely to remain weak in 2019.
Italian fashion brand Tod's (MI:TOD) was also punished by the market, falling 6.2 percent after it said like-for-like sales for 2018 fell 3 percent due to a worsening of the performance in Italy and the rest of Europe.
Broker notes moved some stocks.
Delivery Hero (DE:DHER) shares fell 3.8 percent after JP Morgan cut the stock to "neutral" from "overweight".
Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut (S:BARN) climbed 4.9 percent with traders citing an upgrade from Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), while Fresenius climbed 3.6 percent after BAML upgraded it to "buy".