LONDON (AFX) - Leading exchanges in Europe turned lower in midday trade with the US markets closed for Thanksgiving and as BNP weighed, dealers said.

At 10.55 am, the STOXX 50 was down 15.83 points at 3,297.01 and the STOXX 600 was down 1.16 point at 301.03 as the indices gave up opening gains due to lack of momentum.

BNP Paribas slipped 1.06 pct despite reporting a better than expected third quarter net profit of 1.341 bln eur, up 22.0 pct from a year earlier, and gross operating profit of 2.096 bln eur, up 23.5 pct.

Shares in Kesa Electricals dropped 4.09 pct following a disappointing set of third quarter results, with sales at its French units coming in worse than expected.

Alcatel was 1.15 pct lower as dealers note CEO Serge Tchuruk has confirmed the telecoms group is talking to French defence contractor Thales about increasing its 9.5 pct stake. Tchuruk wouldn't say whether any deal might involve an acquisition or agreements involving sections of the company.

In other M&A reports, Swisscom is reportedly looking to join forces with a group of private-equity firms to bid for TDC, Denmark's largest telecom company.

Elsewhere in the telecoms sector, Telenor -- down 1.2 pct -- has been downgraded to 'neutral' from 'buy' at UBS. The Swiss broker lifted its rating on Teliasonera -- down 0.25 pct -- to 'buy' from 'neutral'.

And Belgium's Telenet moved lower -- giving up opening gains as the bulls finally gave way to the bears in a lively two struggle as a number of heavyweight brokers who all started coverage on the recently listed Belgian cable TV operator today.

The group was been started with an 'in-line' recommendation at Goldman Sachs and a 'neutral' stance at Merrill Lynch but with 'overweight' recommendations at Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan.

But Euronext raised its full-year EBITA guidance to 300 mln eur from 250 mln, excluding costs related to the potential bid for London Stock Exchange PLC, as the financial markets operator announced third quarter results well above market expectations.

EBITA for the latest quarter surged to 85.6 mln eur from 47.6 mln a year ago and net profit more than tripled to 71.2 mln from 22.4 mln, lifted by higher sales and lower costs.

Analysts surveyed by AFX News had expected Euronext to post third quarter net profit of 41.4-56 mln eur and EBITA of 67.2-77 mln, up from 48 mln. Shares added 0.72 pct.

Credit Suisse climbed 2.35 pct -- leading the SMI, after an independent actuary in the dispute between its insurance unit Winterthur and XL has put out a draft report in its favour.

This soothed market concerns that the Swiss bank might have to hike its provisions for the case by up to 1 bln usd and could clear the way for an IPO of Winterthur.

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