Market Analysis

European shares remained stable on Wednesday as investors awaited the release of the Federal Reserve's July meeting minutes to gain further insight into policymakers' sentiments. Meanwhile, the basic resources sector helped support the index.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index held steady at 512.74 points by 0711 GMT, following a five-day winning streak that ended in the previous session.

Regional stock markets opened flat but showed modest gains, with indices rising between 0.1% and 0.2%.

The basic resources sector saw a 1.2% increase, driven by Shanghai aluminium futures reaching a five-week high due to tight raw material supplies.

With no European data scheduled for release on Wednesday, investors are focusing on the Fed minutes expected later in the day, which are anticipated to highlight a dovish outlook.

Additionally, preliminary revisions to U.S. labor data are set to be published, with expectations of a significant downward revision.

In individual stock movements, Voestalpine led the European benchmark with a 3.8% gain following Morgan Stanley's upgrade of its rating from "equal-weight" to "overweight."

Conversely, Alcon saw a 2.2% decline after reporting a smaller-than-expected increase in second-quarter sales, while Sonova Holding AG fell 3.2% after Morgan Stanley downgraded its rating from "equal-weight" to "underweight."

Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author.