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* Travel stocks ease from record highs
* Deutsche Bank records best qtr since 2014, tops STOXX 600
* Santander, Lloyds also mark strong quarters
(Updates to market close)
By Sruthi Shankar and Ambar Warrick
April 28 (Reuters) - European stocks ended flat on Wednesday
as optimism over a swathe of positive bank earnings was offset
by caution setting in before the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy
decision.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended largely
unchanged, with bank stocks leading gains among the
regional sectors. The subindex ended 1.5% higher.
Deutsche Bank jumped 10.7% to the top of the
STOXX 600, as strength at its investment bank helped the German
lender post a better-than-expected first-quarter net profit.
Spanish bank Santander rose 2.7% after it beat
first-quarter forecasts with its profit, while not adding to
provisions for the pandemic and booking record U.S. earnings.
Lloyds Banking Group also rose 3.5% after
reporting a better-than-expected profit, while Swedish bank SEB
marked small gains on a profit beat.
"At a market level, Europe has performed strongly
year-to-date and it's clear that there has been an anticipation
that the recovery will be quite sharp and strong," said Tom
Dorner, investment director for European equities at Aberdeen
Standard Investments. "You're still seeing a rotation in the
market in favour of the more cyclical names like banks and
autos."
The buying into cyclicals has seen travel and leisure
, automobiles, basic resources and banks
among the top performing euro zone sectors this year.
However, investors stayed away from making big bets on
Wednesday, ahead of the U.S. central bank's policy announcement
due at 1800 GMT. Policymakers are widely expected to reaffirm
their stance to keep monetary policy loose until enough economic
progress has been made.
Earnings at European companies in the first quarter of 2021
are expected to surge 71.3% from a year earlier, according to
Refinitiv IBES data, up from last week's forecast of a 61.2%
jump.
The world's biggest advertising company WPP jumped
4.3% to the top of the FTSE 100 on returning to
underlying growth in the first quarter, as clients launched new
products and brands.
German food delivery company Delivery Hero surged
9.4%, after it forecast revenues to more than double in 2021.
Among decliners, Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser Group
fell 3.9% , even as the company backed its full-year outlook.
Italian energy service group Saipem fell 5.1%
after it missed quarterly profit estimates and flagged
uncertainty over a Mozambique project.
Swedish communications provider Sinch AB tumbled
10.8% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 despite a rise in
first-quarter profit, as it said that some of its sectors were
still under pressure from the pandemic.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak
Dasgupta, Rashmi Aich and Peter Graff)
