Despite all the gloom and doom in Europe, French automaker, Renault, posted a respectable first-half performance that beats the forecast by analysts. Earnings before interest, taxes and one-time items dropped 23 percent to 482 million euros from 630 million euros a year ago. This figure beats the average 363 million euros estimated by seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

The better-than-expected performance is supported by the increased sales in Latin America and Russia. Renault sales in Latin America rose 20 percent to 215,149 vehicles, while deliveries in Russia and other former Soviet states jumped 29 percent to 103,926.

"Management has a very good focus on all the important issues," said Kristina Church, a Barclays analyst in London who awarded an 'overweight rating' on Renault