By Sarah Turner

Losses for BHP Billiton and British Sky Broadcasting kept the top British share index under pressure on Wednesday, offsetting gains from technology companies and airlines.

The FTSE 100 index declined 0.1%, or 2.99 points, to 5,780.78. Other European shares and U.S stock futures were mildly higher.

U.S. technology-sector giant Apple (AAPL) reported stellar earnings after the close on Tuesday, giving a boost to technology companies in Europe. ARM Holdings , a supplier of Apple, rose 2.8%.

Meanwhile, software provider Autonomy advanced 1.1% after reporting that its first-quarter net income rose to $49.7 million from $34.5 million a year ago, as revenue climbed 50% to $194.2 million.

The firm said that a stronger pipeline and improved closure rates means that it's growing more confident about a possible recovery.

Those comments chimed with remarks from the Bank of England Wednesday. The central bank said it was more confident about the economy when it made a 9-0 decision to hold interest rates at 0.5% and maintain its 200 billion pound asset-purchase plan. Sterling rose 0.2% to $1.5408 after the minutes and data that showed jobless claims fell 32,900 in March.

Airlines were also advancing, with British Airways shares up 1.2%, after the British Civil Aviation Authority reopened British airspace after days of cancellations caused by a cloud of volcanic ash over the country.

Still, BHP Billiton (BHP) shares were down 1.2%. The mining giant said it has uncovered possible violations of anti-corruption laws by its employees, following a request for information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

BHP also posted an 11% increase in third-quarter iron-ore production on year to 31.16 million metric tons, a 16% increase in petroleum output to 36.84 million barrels of oil equivalent and a 19% drop in copper output to 229,100 tons.

U.K. broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting lost 1.1% after it was downgraded to hold from buy at Royal Bank of Scotland, which said IPTV (Internet-enabled TV) is a "growing threat on the horizon. We believe Sky can continue to grow, but the pace is likely to slow, and the shares could struggle to outperform."

The RBS analysts also see supermarket group Tesco entering the pay-TV market, providing new competition for British Sky Broadcasting which is 39% owned by News Corp, the parent of MarketWatch.

Tesco , up 1.2%, was upgraded to hold from sell on Wednesday at Societe Generale, which said management has been reassuring on the outlook for the group.

In earnings released the prior day, Chief Executive Terry Leahy told analysts that he doesn't see food inflation falling further, the U.K. economic recovery is underway, he sees encouraging trends in non-foods, and international sales are looking up, the broker said.

Outside the top index, bookmaker Ladbrokes climbed 3.1%.

It expects to receive 80 million pounds ($123 million) from the U.K. tax authorities after reaching a settlement covering substantially all the items outstanding in the tax years through to December 2007.

However, Game Group pretax profit dropped 28% to 84.2 million pounds as sales declined 10% to 1.8 billion pounds. The shares were down more than 12%.

The video-game retailer said the results were "delivered against the backdrop of a very difficult trading environment, which saw the global PC and video-games market decline by over 20%."

CEO Lisa Morgan has stepped down, with Chris Bell appointed CEO on an interim basis, while the firm's chief operating officer for the U.K., Terry Scicluna, will also step down.