LONDON (AFP) — Europe's main stock markets enjoyed modest recoveries early Wednesday as share-price gains for heavyweight mining and energy groups help to lift indices that dived a day earlier, dealers said.
In morning European trading, London's FTSE 100 index of top companies won back 0.96 percent to 5,371.70 points.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.52 percent to 6,314.84 points and the Paris CAC 40 advanced 0.62 percent to 4,359.56 nearing the half-way stage.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares climbed by 0.40 percent to stand at 3,292.97 points.
In foreign exchange trade, the European single currency fell to 1.4734 dollars. Gold futures rebounded back above 800 dollars an ounce.
Europe's leading stock markets had closed down by more than two percent Tuesday, following heavy losses across Wall Street on concerns that more bad news caused by the US subprime home loans crisis was expected, dealers said.
Japanese share prices edged down 0.10 percent on Wednesday to close at a fresh one-month low, as renewed concerns about the fallout from the US financial crisis kept buyers away.
But they said the market finished well off its lows of the day as investors welcomed a near eight-percent surge for share prices in Shanghai on hopes that China would take steps to shore up the country's ailing markets.
In London on Wednesday, miners and energy majors, profiting from rebounding metals and energy prices, helped to push the FTSE 100 back into positive territory.
The share price of mining giant Rio Tinto rocketed 5.84 percent to 4,912 pence and its bigger rival BHP Billiton surged by 5.26 percent to 1,600 pence.
Among energy groups, BP won 1.53 percent to 514.75 pence and in Paris, French oil and gas giant Total gained 2.83 percent to 49.17 euros.
On Madrid's rising IBEX 35 index, Grupo Ferrovial showed a gain of 0.54 percent at 33.54 euros even as Britain's Competition Commission (CC) on Wednesday recommended the sale of three airports, two in London and one in Scotland, that are operated by its British unit BAA.
Following an investigation, the Competition Commission said it was seeking views on which two of London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports should be off-loaded, which would result in the break-up of BAA.
After the period of consultation, the CC would also decide which of Edinburgh and Glasgow airports in Scotland should be relinquished.
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