LONDON: European stock markets turned mostly lower Tuesday despite sharp overnight gains inAsia and on Wall Street as concerns over the eurozone and bad news leads kept investors in check.
Dealers said eurozone data continued to be strong, with a surprise rise in French consumer confidence but inGermany, the bloc's powerhouse economy, it looked as though activity might be topping out after a very strong run.
They said the tone overall was positive, however, with solid early gains made after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke indicated the central bank's very low interest rate regime will remain in place for some time.
His comments drove US stocks up 1.23 percent on Monday and they continued cautiously firmer at the start on Tuesday as investors waited for US consumer confidence figures for their next lead on the economic outlook.
In mid-afternoonLondontrade, the benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies was down 0.19 percent,Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.44 percent and inParisthe CAC 40 fell 0.67 percent.
Madridwas down 0.36 percent, giving up early gains, whileMilanwas flat.
The euro slipped to $1.3346 from $1.3356 inNew Yorklate on Monday.
InNew York, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up a marginal 0.08 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 0.17 percent.
InLondon, Simon Denham, head of Capital Spreads trading group, said markets had picked up after losses last week, helped by Bernanke's comments Monday that interest rates would likely remain very low as the economy recovered.
Ben Critchley, a sales trader at IG Index, cautioned that markets may have got used to getting support from the world's central banks and were hoping for more, even if that carries risks of its own.
"Once again we are through the looking glass, in a world where stocks rise on hopes that US economic data will weaken, since this then raises the probability that the Fed will launch" more stimulus.
"We remain stuck in a world where markets seem unable to cope without the possibility of monetary stimulus, underscoring the fact that the global economy still has some way to go before it is successfully weaned off active central bank intervention," Critchley warned.
In company news, shares in bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland was up nearly 4.0 percent after the BBC said that the British government was in talks to sell up to a third of its stake in the state-rescued lender to Abu Dhabi.
The government, which controls 82 percent of RBS, has been negotiating for months with the emirate's sovereign wealth fund, the report said on Monday.
InParis, French energy giant Total was off nearly 7.0 percent after news of a major gas leak problem at a rig in theNorth Sea, pushing down the broader market as a whole.
Asian stock markets rallied Tuesday after Bernanke's comments, withTokyoup 2.36 percent,Hong Konggained 1.83 percent andSydneyrose 0.90 percent.
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