Oil keeps a lid on European shares, Imagination Tech soars

European shares were in store for another weak session on Thursday pegged back by the slide in commodities-related sectors on the back of depressed oil prices.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.3 percent, on track for its third day of straight losses, while the blue chips dropped 0.4 percent.

European energy sector and mining stocks were down about 1 percent.

Health care was the top-gaining sector, up 0.8 percent with Switzerland's Novartis in the driving seat as its shares advanced 2.5 percent, following a positive study result for its canakinumab medicine, which cut risks for heart attack survivors.

Elsewhere, Imagination Tech, once a high flyer as a supplier of graphics technology to Apple <AAPL.O, soared more than 20 percent after it put itself up for sale.

In April, Apple said that it would no longer use Imagination's graphics technology in the iPhone, wiping out more than 60 percent of the British firm's market value.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)