Europe keeps above water

Traders had a busy session as markets turned mixed after Wall Street opened

LONDON, England (CNN) -- European markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday after a cautious session on Wall Street took the shine off a strong performance by media and technology stocks.

London's FTSE 100 rose 0.4 percent to 5,259.1 and the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris gained 0.5 percent to 4,471.27, while Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax was down 0.1 percent at 5,043.62 in late trading (the German market was set to close at 1900 GMT).

The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, rose 0.3 percent, with the information technology and media sub-indices among the top gainers.

The telecom sector continued to gain strength from recent positive outlooks from major players in the U.S. sector.

France Telecom (FTE) gained 8 percent in Paris, while its mobile phone unit Orange(ORA) rose 5.5 percent. Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) was up 4.6 percent in late Frankfurt trading.

Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, gained 2.3 percent and Swedish rival Ericsson jumped 8.1 percent. Alcatel (PCGE), the world's fifth-largest telecom equipment maker, gained 2.2 percent in Paris.

Meanwhile, Cable & Wireless (CW-), the world's biggest Web-hosting company, lost 2.6 percent in London after slashing the value of its assets by $5.8 billion to take account of falling telecoms values. But the results were near expectations. (full story)

Leading the media sector was Vivendi Universal (PEX), which rose 5.1 percent -- adding to its gains from the previous session -- after announcing on Tuesday the sale of its remaining stake in British Sky Broadcasting.

In the airline sector, Lufthansa (FLHA), Europe's second-largest airline, was up 0.6 percent in late Frankfurt trading after it said its loss widened to 186 million euros ($168 million) in the first quarter from a loss of 94 million a year ago. Sales rose to 3.85 billion euros, while analysts were expecting revenue of about 3.68 billion euros. (full story)

British Airways (BAY), Europe's biggest airline, rose 2.5 percent.

Credit Suisse Group, Switzerland's second-largest bank, fell 0.3 percent after returning to profit in the first-quarter, although the numbers were at the low end of expectations. (full story)

Also lower was Kingfisher (KGF), the British retailing giant, which declined 0.7 percent after saying it would pay £3.3 billion ($4.6 billion) to take control of French do-it-yourself chain Castorama. (full story)

KPNQwest, the Dutch data communications company, plunged 57 percent after it said it was running out of money and needs to cut its debt or sell assets to keep operating for the rest of the year. The company has now lost more than 90 percent of its share value this year. (full story)

Telewest (TWT), the UK's second biggest cable operator, fell 8.9 percent after it said Microsoft was withdrawing its directors from its the board, leading to speculation the U.S. software giant would sell its stake in the company. (full story)

In Amsterdam the AEX index lost 0.4 percent and Milan's MIB30 index was off 0.1 percent, while the SMI in Zurich rose 0.7 percent.