STMicroelectronics, a chipmaker, fell 1% despite reporting a 133% rise in third-quarter profit, as concerns arose over the outlook of the company for the fourth quarter.

Infineon, shed 0.8% after it revealed the cost of the insolvency of mobile phone group BenQ, one of its biggest customers.

Metrovacesa, a construction group, fell a further 1.9% having lost more than 8% in the previous session as questions remained about its inclusion in the Ibex index.

Oil and gold

December light, crude oil rose 10 cents to $59.45 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the NYME at 10:44 a.m. in London. Brent crude for December settlement advanced 17 cents to $60.03 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Gold traded in London at $581.60 bid per troy ounce, up from $581.00 late Tuesday.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar was mostly lower against other major currencies in European trading Wednesday morning. The euro traded at $1.2571, up from $1.2566 late Tuesday in New York. The British pound was quoted at $1.8764, up from $1.8742. The dollar bought 119.11 Japanese yen, down from 119.27.