Most European stock exchanges saw earlier profits evaporate on Tuesday. Sentiment continued to decline.

The AEX index on Beursplein 5 was 0.1 percent higher at 580.94 points around noon. Earlier in the morning, the main index was just above the highest closing level this year. The highest closing price of 2019 was reached on July 24, at 583.26 points. The MidKap climbed 0.5 percent to 838.31 points. The stock exchanges in London, Paris and Frankfurt lost up to 0.3 percent.

KPN belonged to the tail group of the main funds with a minus of 1.3 percent. Joost Farwerck becomes the new chief executive of the telecom group. The operational director has been temporarily in charge since the departure of CEO Maximo Ibarra. In addition, financial chief Jan Kees de Jager will resign from 1 March. De Jager is succeeded by Chris Figee, the financial director of insurer ASR, who was the largest downer with a minus of 2.3 percent.

The strongest climber in the AEX was chip machine maker ASML with a profit of 1.9 percent. In the MidKap, builder BAM was at the top with a plus of 3.5 percent. PostNL closed the line with a loss of 2.2 percent, following the price gain of almost 10 percent the day before. The mail deliverer starts to work out the acquisition of competitor Sandd. On Friday, under strict conditions, PostNL was given permission to take over its competitor.

Esperite said it wanted to distance itself from all its operational activities and to continue as an investment company. The stem cell company will soon announce the impact of the steps on the results. Trading in the share has stopped since last Friday.

The euro was worth 1.0897 dollars, against 1.0903 dollars a day earlier. A barrel of American oil became 1.1 percent more expensive at $ 54.65. Brent oil climbed 1 percent in price to $ 59.84 a barrel.