Insurance company Aegon booked a loss of €173m in the first three months of this year, less than analysts polled by Reuters news agency had expected.

Aegon lost €1.2bn in the final quarter of last year.
The news buoyed Aegon’s share price, which rose 9.9% to €4.21 in early trading.
Aegon wrote off €386m of its investment portfolio, of which €205m was due to the American mortgage market, the Telegraaf said.
CEO Alex Wynaendts said in a statement he was ‘encouraged’ by the figures and promised the company would stick to the strategy put in place last November to combat the financial crisis.