Shares in London nudged ahead at the start of trading on Thursday, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies up 0.05 percent to 5,686.60 points.
Elsewhere in Europe, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index was up 0.34 percent to 6,706.99 points while in Paris the CAC 40 climbed 0.28 percent to 3,243.02.
Britian's state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group on Thursday said it had agreed to sell 632 branches to the Co-operative Group that it was ordered to offload by EU competition regulators.
Source: AFP European Edition
