By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares posted mild losses on Thursday, as investors sold banks amid lingering jitters about government debt levels but welcomed a return to profit for BT Group and 3i Group. The Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:SXXP 256.99, +0.39, +0.15%) declined 0.2% to 256.17. On Wednesday, the index gained 1.5%, continuing to recoup some of last week's heavy losses, following the announcement of a 750 billion euro ($952 billion) aid package from the European Union and the IMF to support struggling economies in Europe. But the euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.2559, -0.0071, -0.5622%) fell 0.7% to $1.2550 against the dollar and banks were also lower on Thursday. Credit Agricole (FR:ACA 10.30, -0.37, -3.47%) shares fell 4.7%, BBVA (ES:BBVA 9.50, -0.10, -1.06%) shares lost 1.2%, Barclays (UK:BARC 327.00, -2.00, -0.61%) (BCS 19.28, -0.37, -1.88%) shares declined 1.5% and National Bank of Greece (NBG 2.88, -0.01, -0.37%) lost 1.2%. "After the near-panic last week, it wouldn't be a surprise to see a bit of residual nervousness," said Bernard McAlinden, strategist at NCB Stockbrokers. "The problem hasn't gone away. It's been kicked into touch," he said, in a reference to rugby rules. "The fundamental problem is that these economies are defaulting until they get their houses in order," he added. Of the major regional indexes, the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 3,728, -5.73, -0.15%) traded flat at 3,734.05, the U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,413, +29.30, +0.54%) traded up 0.2% at 5,395.64 and the German DAX index (DX:DAX 6,251, +67.92, +1.10%) rose 0.6% to 6,220.81. In other regions, Asian shares had a positive session while U.S. stocks were mildly lower in early trading. Read more on Asia Markets. Read more on U.S. stocks. Still, with gold near record highs, miners advanced, with Rio Tinto shares up 1.7%. Earnings also offered some support, with shares of private equity firm 3i Group (UK:III 289.70, +20.90, +7.79%) up 7.3% after it swung to a fiscal-year profit of 154 million pounds ($227 million), from a loss of £1.95 billion a year earlier. Read more on 3i. Telecom firm BT Group (UK:BT.A 134.10, +13.44, +11.16%) (BT 19.68, +1.75, +9.76%) , up 11.1%, also swung back into the black in its fiscal fourth quarter, reporting a pretax profit of £251 million. Last year, the firm posted a loss of £1.3 billion. Read more on BT. Still, Telefonica (ES:TEF 15.55, -0.50, -3.09%) (TEF 58.81, -1.90, -3.13%) shares declined 3%. The Madrid telecom services giant reported first-quarter earnings rose 2% to 1.66 billion euros ($2.11 billion) and affirmed earnings estimates for 2010. Read more on Telefonica. German technology consulting giant SAP (DE:SAP 35.44, -0.81, -2.23%) (SAP 44.61, -0.29, -0.65%) lost 2% after it said it's agreed to buy California.-based Sybase for roughly $5.8 billion. Read more on SAP. Trading with steeper losses, NicOx (FR:COX 2.91, -2.28, -43.67%) shares fell 44.2%, adding to recent losses. The Sofia Antipolis, France, drug developer said that two panels within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted 16 to 1 with one abstention "that they did not have sufficient evidence at this time to support" clearing naproxcinod for marketing to relieve the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis.

Source