(MENAFN- Gulf Times) London stocks pulled back yesterday from a record high the previous day on profit-taking, while the main European markets ended flat.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index dropped 0.21% from Tuesday's close to end the day at 6,935.38 points.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 index edged up 0.04% to 11,210.27 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 was down 0.09% to 4,882.22 points.
Madrid gave up 0.14% and Milan shed 0.96%.
The euro rose to $1.1362 from $1.1342 late in New York on Tuesday.
"The FTSE 100 failed to build on the record-breaking gains from the previous session," said analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets.
"The benchmark UK index was dragged down when the Irish government failed to give the go-ahead on the IAG takeover of Aer Lingus, while Weir Group was pummelled after giving a profit warning."
The Irish government demanded more guarantees on jobs and routes before agreeing to the deal, while shares in engineering firm Weir Group collapsed almost 9% after it signalled lower margins and revenue.
The FTSE index had been rising steadily for months, helped by central bank stimulus and improvements to the British and US economies that have offset weakness in China and strains in the eurozone.
It benefitted on Tuesday from eurozone finance ministers backing an extension of Greece's bailout, which lowers the immediate risk the country will crash out of the euro.
European markets were also supported by a pledge on Tuesday by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to take a cautious approach to raising US interest rates, which had sent the Dow and S&P 500 indices on Wall Street to record highs.
"Janet Yellen's testimony to Congress yesterday, while on the face it a repeat of her dovish stance, does move the Fed closer to raising interest rates," said Neil MacKinnon, economist at financial group VTB Capital.
Traders were also eyeing a second day of congressional testimony by Yellen.
On the corporate front, shares in French insurance group AXA, number two in Europe after German giant Allianz, jumped 2.6% after posting a 12% surge in net profits to ‚¬5.02bn last year.
Telefonica won 1.7% despite the Spanish telecoms group reporting a plunge in annual net profits to 3.0bn euros, citing Venezuela's economic crisis and other exceptional costs.
Wall Street stocks hung around record highs, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.09% to 18,225.21 points in midday trade.
The broad-based S&P 500 was up fractionally at 2,115.57, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.10% to 4,973.00.
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