(MENAFN- AFP) European equities steadied on Wednesday, a day after tumbling on a sharp slowdown of business activity in the eurozone, dealers said.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index added 0.16 percent to stand at 6,686.85 points in afternoon trading, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 index edged up 0.05 percent to 9,600.06 points and in Paris the CAC 40 won 0.45 percent to 4,378.83 points.
European and US stocks sank on Tuesday after a closely watched gauge of business activity in the 18-nation eurozone slipped again in September, fanning worries about the region's stuttering recovery.
Despite share prices holding steady "sentiment is still downbeat due to the heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the mounting concerns about the health of the eurozone economy," said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at trading group Forex.com.
Germany's Ifo business confidence indicator fell Wednesday to its lowest level in 17 months, which did not help improve confidence.
"An even bigger concern is that once the Fed's QE (stimulus) programme ends next month, a major source of support for global equities will thus be withdrawn. What's more, many fear that the global economy is not strong enough to justify stocks at these lofty levels," added Razaqzada.
In foreign exchange trading, the euro fell to $1.2834 from $1.2850 late in New York on Tuesday.
The single currency dropped also versus the British pound, to 78.28 pence against 78.40 pence on Tuesday. The pound edged up to $1.6394 from $1.6389.
The price of gold nudged higher to $1,224 an ounce from $1,222 on the London Bullion Market on Tuesday.
Meanwhile in the United States, stocks opened with modest gains Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.10 percent to 17,072.98 points after five minutes of trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.08 percent to 1,984.41, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.27 percent to 4,520.86.
Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com said US equities have been "ripe" for a pullback following last week's records and ahead of the impending end of the third quarter that will encourage money managers to take profits.
- Air France confusion -
Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday as bargain-buying was offset by the effects of Tuesday's sell-off in New York and Europe in response to fresh data indicating weakness in the eurozone.
Tokyo slipped 0.24 percent as Japan's Nikkei returned from a public holiday to a stronger yen which put downward pressure on exporters.
Sydney declined 0.74 percent but Seoul added 0.33 percent.
Shanghai rallied 1.47 percent and Hong Kong closed up 0.35 percent following a better-than expected Chinese manufacturing report Tuesday.
Meanwhile in company movement on Wednesday, confusion swirled over Air France's plan for its low-cost subsidiary that has been at the heart of a bitter and costly strike, as the government and management contradicted each other within minutes.
As the strike at Europe's second-biggest flag carrier stretched into its 10th day, Transport Minister Alain Vidalies told French radio the airline had scrapped plans to expand its Transavia budget subsidiary.
But within minutes, an Air France spokesman told AFP it was "premature" to say the airline had buried the plans to develop its budget subsidiary, which it sees as vital to survive in the cut-throat world of low-cost aviation.
Negotiations between pilots and managment restarted later in the day, helping shares in the wider Air France-KLM group climb 0.9 percent to 7.59 euros.
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