LONDON: European equities crept higher on Thursday, despite fresh falls in Asia, as nervous investors fretted over Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis while the yen pulled back from a post-War high.
"Market sentiment remains nervous given the uncertain situation in Japan," VTB Capital economist Neil MacKinnon told AFP.
Asian stock markets resumed their downward trend, as the nuclear crisis cast a dark shadow, while the dollar plunged to 76.36 yen at around 2115 GMT on Wednesday. That was the lowest level since the end of World War Two.
But in European morning deals, Frankfurt stocks rose 0.78 percent, London added 0.80 percent and Paris gained 0.93 percent, recouping some of this week's sharp losses that followed Japan's devastating natural disaster.
And the dollar clawed its way back to 78.75 yen, after touching the landmark low point.
"Equities are bouncing this morning as traders regroup after days of relentless selling," said analyst David Morrison at GFT Global in London.
"Everyone is focused on the news coming from Japan where the battle to contain the damage at the Fukushima nuclear facility continues.
"The latest reports claim that power lines have been established which should help the emergency workers.
"But there is widespread confusion over the status of the reactors and the accuracy of official reports has been questioned."
Sentiment was also jarred as China urged Japan to release "timely and precise" information on the unfolding crisis.
Global shares have tumbled this week as investors struggled to grasp the impact of last Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami in Japan, which sparked the current nuclear crisis.
"The volatility will remain for a while as the market is moving on each headline that comes out from Japan," added equities head Atif Latif at Guardian Stockbrokers.
At the stricken Fukushima plant on Thursday, Chinook helicopters dumped tonnes of water in a desperate effort to cool the crippled reactors and prevent a catastrophic meltdown.
The official toll of the dead and missing from the twin disasters, which pulverised Japan's northeast coast and left countless thousands homeless and enduring bitterly cold conditions, now exceeds 14,650, police said.
Asian investors, meanwhile, trimmed earlier losses as crews fought to douse an overheating power plant, while the Bank of Japan pumped six trillion yen ($73 billion) into the short-term money market to soothe concerns.
The United States has warned citizens living within 50 miles (80 kilometres) of the crippled Japanese Fukushima nuclear plant to evacuate.
The exclusion zone given by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was wider than the 20 kilometres ordered by Japan and rang alarm bells with investors.
The Tokyo market sank 1.44 percent on Thursday, although the index was well off earlier lows that had seen it fall by more than four percent.
Meanwhile ongoing violence in Bahrain and Libya has prompted renewed concern over spreading unrest in the crude-rich Middle East region.
World oil prices gained more than a dollar on Thursday as traders turned their attention to the Middle East unrest.
"Tensions are rising in Bahrain where the clampdown on the protesters has been sharp and violent," added Morrison.
"Oil prices have resumed their upward climb, and it looks like the international community is getting ready to intervene in Libya."
Wall Street had dived on Wednesday as investors worried about the growing Japan crisis and tensions in the Arab world, as well as weak US economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a sharp triple-digit fall, sinking 242.12 points or 2.04 percent to finish at 11,613.30.
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