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Jan 13 (Reuters) - European stocks were little changed on
Wednesday as a profit warning from Danish wind farm developer
Orsted hit utilities, while French grocer Carrefour jumped
following merger talks.
Carrefour SA CARR.PA was up 10.6% after Canadian
convenience-store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc
ATDb.TO said it had approached Europe's biggest retailer to
discuss a combination. The stock topped gains on Paris' CAC 40 .FCHI , which was
up 0.2%, while shares in French retailer Casino CASP.PA jumped
6.4%.
Another big gainer was Spanish telecom company Telefonica
TEF.MC , which rose over 8% after it agreed to sell its
mobile phone masts in Europe and Latin America to U.S.-based
telecom infrastructure operator American Towers for 7.7 billion
euros ($9.41 billion) in cash. However, the pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose just
0.1%, as utilities were a drag after Orsted ORSTED.CO slumped
7.5% on warning a return to more normal wind speeds this
year would hit operating earnings. The German DAX .GDAXI remained muted as Health Minister
Jens Spahn said the country will not be able to lift all
restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus at
the beginning of February.