European shares opened flat on Wednesday ahead of a broadly priced-in pause in interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, while Entain shares fell sharply after announcing a deal.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index held steady at 463.49 points by 0709 GMT, with the travel & leisure index falling 0.9%.
Ladbrokes-owner Entain plunged 10.0%, falling to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after it said on Tuesday it will buy Poland-based sports betting operator STS Holdings for 750 million pounds ($946 million),
Traders have all but fully priced in the Fed holding rates at the 5.00%-5.25% range later in the day, while giving it a 63% chance of a rate hike in July, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
The European Central Bank will hold its policy meeting on Thursday, where it is expected to hike rates by another 25 basis points to tame stubborn inflation.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
