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.