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The banking sector took a turn for the positive around midday, with Reuters suggesting markets were "shrugging off" the French bank's results.
Disappointed traders led to a fall of 5.2 per cent for Societe General, but other banking institutions recovered as stock market trading went on.
Market strategist Joshua Raymond of spread betting service City Index noted Societe Generale's results stood in contrast to "stellar" results from BNP Paribas and Barclays earlier on.
"However, as the morning has progressed we have seen more investors come in to buy equities helping the European Indices to post their fourth straight day of gains," he said.
According to Mr Raymond, the run of straight gains is an indicator of investors who are "hunting for buying opportunities".
US data expected later today, including jobless claims information and the Philadelphia Fed Survey, will potentially play a part in stock market trading into the close, he added.
Posted by Clive Arneil
