By Simon Kennedy
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets staged a modest early rebound Wednesday following heavy losses in the previous two sessions. Among shares on the move, U.K. foodservice company Compass Group (UK:CPG 545.00, +17.50, +3.32%) rose 3.4% after lifting its dividend payout by a third. Bank of Ireland (IE:BIR 0.22, -0.08, -26.67%) (IRE 1.70, -0.52, -23.42%) dropped around 6% in early trading after a report the Irish government will take a majority stake in the lender and also after Standard & Poor's cut Ireland's sovereign rating to A from AA-. Among the main indexes, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 (UK:UKX 5,611, +30.10, +0.54%) rose 0.4% to 5,604.83, the French CAC 40 (FR:PX1 3,732, +7.12, +0.19%) climbed 0.2% to 3,731.02 and the German DAX 30 index (DX:DAX 6,741, +35.83, +0.53%) rose 0.3% to 6,727.87. |