European markets were marked down, but closed off their lows, in volatile trade as Wall Street staged a morning rebound after last week's 5.9 per cent tumble. The dollar trimmed losses from two-week lows against the yen and rebounded against the euro.
The FTSE Eurobloc 100 index lost 10.88 to 1,039.87. The FTSE Eurotop 100 index gave up 23.43 to 2,846.51 while the broader FTSE Eurotop 300 index fell 9.96 to 1,246.22.
Frankfurt ended lower for the sixth day running, but the Xetra Dax index ended well above its session low at 5,156.28, down 27.95.
Dresdner Bank and HypoVereinsbank were firm features on a strong running story that the two groups were set to merge early in the new year. Dresdner added 39 cents at €43.54 and HypoVereinsbank €1.12 at €57.50.
Veba met with determined selling and the shares finished €1.33 lower at €47.52. Siemens lost €1.72 at €75.98. DaimlerChrysler, again the subject of European alliance rumours, fell €1.64 at €66.72.
Paris ended 29.12 lower at 4,495.30 on the CAC-40 index, climbing back from a session low of 4,452.93.
Amsterdam fell 8.84 to 529.13 on the AEX index after a heavy shakeout for media stocks and a 3.3 per cent decline at electronics giant Philips ahead of third-quarter figures.
Media stocks were among the day's heaviest casualties amid talk of broker downgrades. VNU lost €1.85 or 5.7 per cent at €30.75 and Wolters Kluwer €1.26 at €28.40. Elsevier fell 33 cents at €9.04. Philips, which recently saw a number of big brokers issue profits advice to clients, shed €3.00 at €86.85 ahead of Thursday's results statement. Buhrmann, the office supplies group, fell to €16.41, off 29 cents, as investors continued to fret about a share issue. CS First Boston lifted its 12-month target price at telecoms group KPN to €60, but the stock came off 39 cents at €43.51.
Milan failed to reverse losses of more than 5 per cent over the previous sessions and the Mibtel index finished 335 lower at 22,439.
Soccer club Lazio soared as much as 8 per cent as the team moved to the top of the Italian first division after beating Udinese at the weekend. By the close, the shares were off the top but still 6.5 per cent higher at €6.78.
