LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - European shares were steady on Thursday, although Deutsche Bank fell and underperformed the broader market after it warned of a record pre-tax loss in the third quarter.
Deutsche Bank's shares were down by around 2 percent in early session trading, underperforming a flat performance on Germany's benchmark DAX equity index and a 0.2 percent rise on the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index.
Deutsche Bank said it was bracing for a record pre-tax loss of 6 billion euros (US$6.7 billion) in the third quarter.
The German company's problems caused the STOXX Europe 600 Bank Index to fall 0.5 percent, but European healthcare stocks rose 1.2 percent after U.S. biotechnology companies rallied overnight in New York.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Alistair Smout)