FRANKFURT, July 30 - European blue chips opened mixed on Wednesday with investors still unnerved by a sharp fall in U.S. consumer confidence, but shares in British bank Abbey National surged as its poor first-half results reignited takeover speculation. Shares in food and consumer goods giant Unilever added some 1.33 percent after the group reported a two percent rise in underlying half-year profits and stuck to its earnings growth target of more than 10 percent. Abbey National shares surged over eight percent to an intraday high of 531 pence after the group slumped to a 144 million pounds half-year loss and cut its dividend. Traders said the results rekindled talk the bank might be a takeover target while analysts said the results were not as bad as expected. "Abbey National's interim results were better than we had expected. Results at its PFS (personal financial services) unit were above our estimate. The unwinding of its Portfolio Business unit is accelerating and should be completed earlier than expected," said one banking analyst in London. Among other early standouts, French media group Vivendi Universal fell 2.36 percent after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. on Tuesday abruptly withdrew from the auction for Vivendi's U.S. media assets, saying the price was too high. By 0715 GMT, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index was 0.09 percent up at 869 points, while the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index stood 0.18 percent lower at 2,466. Around Europe, London's FTSE 100 was 0.13 percent higher, France's CAC-40 lost 0.11 percent, the Swiss SSMI was flat and Germany's DAX lost 0.66 percent. Shares in German semiconductor equipment maker Aixtron plunged over 12 percent after the firm said late on Tuesday that it had slid further into the red in the second quarter and would post a full-year loss. Following the disappointing consumer confidence data on Tuesday, investors will be watching for the 1800 GMT release of the U.S. Federal Reserve's Beige Book summary of economic conditions in the 12 Federal Reserve districts for June, and the Chicago Fed's National Activity Index on the current state of U.S. economic activity and inflationary pressures for June, at 1400 GMT.