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Nov 6 (Reuters) - European shares edged higher on Wednesday,
boosted by financial stocks, as investors parsed through a mixed
bag of earnings reports and awaited new developments on trade
talks between the United States and China.
Societe Generale shares SOGN.PA rose 3.5% after the bank
said it had set aside three-quarters of the cash needed to
deliver a planned dividend payout this year.
The French bank helped power a 1% rise in bank stocks
.SX7P , and the pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX was up
0.06% by 0826 GMT.
Supermarket operator Ahold Delhaize AD.AS rose 2.2% after
the Dutch company posted quarterly core earnings ahead of
analysts' forecasts.
European shares were close to all-time highs, ending Tuesday
at a more than four-year peak as investors grew more optimistic
about a trade truce between the United States and China.
The lack of fresh trade developments helped shift focus back
to the third-quarter earnings season which has been modestly
better-than-expected so far.