European shares steady as tech-financials rotation continues

European shares see-sawed on Tuesday with sectors strongly diverging as a rotation from tech stocks into financials, bolstered by the U.S. tax bill, gathered pace.

Eurozone blue chips, fresh from their best day in five months, held steady, while the broader euro zone index edged up 0.1 percent as strength in banking and consumer stocks outweighed weak tech and mining sectors. 

Germany’s industrials and autos-heavy DAX outperformed peers, up 0.1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB was buoyed by banks Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit .

Euro zone banks maintained positive momentum after their best gains in two months on Monday, up 0.3 percent. Societe Generale and BNP Paribas were among the biggest boosts to France’s CAC 40.

Following the pattern in Wall Street and Asian trading overnight, chipmakers led the tech sector down as investors switched from highly valued tech stocks into financials. 

Retailers were set for a rare positive day, the best-performing sector after Goldman Sachs upgraded UK supermarket Tesco to a “buy”, boosting its shares by 3 percent.

Provident Financial sank 15 percent in early deals after UK regulator FCA opened an investigation into its Moneybarn unit.