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European shares were called to open slightly higher on Wednesday as bargain hunters sought cheap stocks on the back of recent falls caused by fears that the Spanish bailout might lead to a further spread of contagion in the euro zone debt crisis.
The FTSE was called to open 2 points higher at 5476, the DAX was seen opening 28 points higher at 6189 and the CAC 40 was expected to open higher by 15 at 3062.
Investor fears that Spain may not be the last euro zone country to need a bailout eased a little on Tuesday after Standard & Poor’s told Reuters that Italy's banks were not in a situation similar to Spain's banks because they have much less exposure to the property market.
"We don't think Italian banks are in a similar situation (to Spain's) because their exposure to the real estate sector is more contained, and also because we don't see the risk of a sharp decline in Italian real estate prices like there was in Spain," S&P's primary credit analyst Renato Panich said.
Italian banks are suffering from sovereign debt pressure, which is weighing on their access to funding markets, she added.
But that view was contradicted by founding partner and president of Egan-Jones., Sean Egan, who told CNBC Asia that he believes Spain and Italy would each need a full-scale bailout from the EU because of the high level of their deficits and the credit worthiness of their banks.
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