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By 08:13 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 was up 0.1 per cent to 1,054.96 points, with Danone, Unilever and Nestle climbing by as much as 0.9 per cent, Reuters reports.
The increase helped to offset the 0.1 per cent fall that was recorded at the close of trading yesterday, but falls among banks prevented the rise from being any stronger.
Barclays, Standard Chartered, Societe Generale and Royal Bank of Scotland were between 0.7 per cent and 1.1 per cent lower and there was a sharp dip for EADS, the parent company of airbus, which slid 5.2 per cent after it said it made a net loss of €763 million (£692 million) in 2009.
However, a similar increase was not seen on the FTSE 100 in London. According to the news agency, the index was down by 0.4 per cent to 5,584.27 points at 09:28, with a number of mining firms among the biggest fallers.
Posted by Greg Secker
