European oil stocks were up on Wednesday as oil prices stayed high, while telecommunications stocks saw losses on the day. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 0.9 percent on the day to 1,177.19.

France Telecom was down 0.8 percent to €24.41 as it offered a rights issue worth €3 billion in order to aid in funding Spanish mobile phone operator Amena, a purchase worth €6.4 billion. OTE, the Greek telecommunications company, was up early but then ended the day down by 2.2 percent to €16.76 although it had beat forecasts for profits in the second quarter.

In the oil and gas sector, Neste Oil of Finland gained 9 percent to €27.25, the highest rise of the day. Repsol YFP and Total each gained 2.6 percent on the day, as Repsol closed at €23.98 and Total ended the session at €213.10. Eni added 2.3 percent to close the day at €23.97. Oil services company Saipem was up 2.7 percent to €13.63.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, Sanofi-Aventis lost 1 percent to €69.20, losing gains from its earnings goal for the full year when Deutsche Bank said that the company’s testing of new drugs has come up with mixed results due to a key depression drug it is developing was successful in one test, but did not make it through the testing process on another trial.

At mid-day on Wednesday, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX index had gained 0.8 percent to sit at 10,670.30 on a trading volume of 122.1 million shares.

The gains were primarily due to strength in the energy and financial sectors. Eight of the 10 groups on the TSX showed advances, with the energy group leading the way with a gain of 1.1 percent, followed by financials group at 0.7 percent higher.

The materials group also was showing a gain of 1.1 percent, with its gold subgroup gaining 1.5 percent.

Shares in energy companies were up despite a surprise report showing oil supplies in the US up last week. Suncor Energy was up 2.7 percent to C$69.03, while EnCana Corp. gained 2.4 percent to C$53.64. EnCana was helped by US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval of a 328-mile pipeline that will ship natural gas from the Rocky Mountains to eastern US markets. An EnCana affiliate will operate the pipeline.

In the financials sector, banks were up as they recovered from the news that Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will have to pay out over $2 billion to settle claims related to their involvement with collapsed US energy company Enron. CIBC gained 1.8 percent to C$72.06. Bank of Nova Scotia was up 0.9 percent to C$41.86.

In New York on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq composite, and the S&P 500 were all down on the day as investors awaited word on whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again this month as expected.

The Dow lost 0.2 percent to close at 10,536.93, the Nasdaq fell 0.6 percent to 2,164.39, and the S&P declined by 0.3 percent to end the day at 1,223.13.

Several reports and rumors of bids and mergers also captured the attention of investors.

Kerr-McGee, the oil and gas company, gained 3.7 percent to $85.01 on the news that it had agreed to let Moller-Maersk purchase its oil interests in the North Sea for $3.5 billion.

E*Trade announced it would buy the online brokerage operations of Harrisdirect, sending shares in E*Trade up 8.3 percent to $16.10. The purchase will cost E*Trade $700 million.

Whirlpool upped its bid for Maytag by $2 to $20 per share. Maytag was up 9.4 percent to $18.58 on the news, and Whirlpool gained 3.5 percent to $82.40.

Department store group Saks saw its shares go up on a report in Women’s Wear Daily that Bon-Ton Stores and Cerberus Capital Management might spend up to $4.2 billion to purchase Saks. Shares in Saks gained 9.1 percent to $22.10 on the strength of the report.