Reinforced by Wall Street's early gains, Frankfurt recovered some of Monday's 283-point loss on the Xetra DAX index which rose 43.80 to 7,650.05.
Further sizeable losses at Deutsche Telekom, which shed #4.15 to #88.10 for a two-day decline of almost 9 per cent, were countered by continued gains among motor stocks.
Munich Re lost #11.90 at #295.05 but elsewhere among financials there were steady gains. Allianz added #2.20 at #397 amid continuing broker approval for the group's participation in the merger of Deutsche and Dresdner Bank.
Amsterdam rallied 3.13 to 661.19 on the AEX index after a rebound for foods stocks which took Unilever and Numico ahead. Broker enthusiasm for last week's upbeat trading statement from Numico underpinned the sector. Numico rose #2.80 or 8.2 per cent to #36.90 and Unilever added 43 cents at #41.42.
Paris punished its highly-priced technology stocks again, but some strong rises by old economy names managed to keep the CAC-40 index above water. It closed at 6,350.35, a rise of 13.42.
One oldie that did well was aluminium producer Pechiney, which leaped 10.5 per cent after announcing a revised plan for the three-way aluminium merger which it will submit to the European Commission for approval. Shares closed up #5.40 at #57.
Milan ended flat, with gains by Enel and the banking sector offset by declines in Fiat. The Mibtel index finished 33,854 lower at 33,854. Fiat was halted limit-down in early trade as investors digested the terms of its strategic alliance with General Motors. The shares finished 10.8 per cent lower at 31.85.
Helsinki was up almost 3 per cent, restoring most of Monday's loss, as Wall Street rallied. The Hex general index added 504.85 to 17,590.58. Nokia gained #7.25 to #224 and Sonera #3.65 to #90.75.
