European shares were little changed at midday on Thursday after two central banks left key interest rates unchanged, as expected, and investors chewed over U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's inflation remarks, Reuters reported. In stock-specific action, Nordic telecoms operator TeliaSonera jumped over 7 percent on a takeover bid from France Telecom, whose shares fell more than 4 percent. French bank Credit Agricole dropped almost 6 percent after unveiling a heavily discounted rights issue, which added to worries about the health of the financial sector. By 1148 GMT, shortly after the European Central Bank's (ECB) announcement that it had left its benchmark interest rate at 4 percent, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was flat at 1,311.70 points. The next focal point for investors is ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet's news conference due to begin at 1230 GMT. "It will be interesting to see what Trichet will tell us, whether they will be on hold at 4 percent for a long, long time," said Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, equity strategist at Postbank in Bonn, Germany. Earlier, the Bank of England kept its key rate steady at 5 percent. "It's extremely quiet today," said a Frankfurt-based stock market trader. He said many investors had taken to the sidelines to digest the effects across markets of the concerns voiced by Bernanke over rising longer-term inflation expectations, comments which sent U.S. Treasuries sharply lower and the dollar higher. "This is for sure the story," the trader said, adding that in Europe, "everybody is waiting for the U.S. stock markets' opening to give direction." U.S. stock index futures traded between 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent higher at 1148 GMT. Copper fell to an 11-week low and aluminium to its cheapest in almost a month on Thursday as the stronger dollar and a mixed macroeconomic picture weighed on investor sentiment. Mining stocks took a beating, with BHP Billiton down 3.5 percent, Anglo American down 3.4 percent, and Rio Tinto down 2.2 percent.
