Europe shares turn positive, led by banks

European shares turned positive around midday on Wednesday, with banks gaining, and as U.S. stock index futures pared losses.

At 1141 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.2 percent at 734.82 points, and had hit a high of 735.49, having recovered from a low of 720.51.

Banks led the turnaround. BNP Paribas, HSBC and UBS were up between 2.7 and 4.1 percent.

Futures for the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were down between 0.5 and 0.8 percent, paring losses from earlier, ahead of manufacturing data.