European equities stage rebound

European stocks rebounded Wednesday as investors snapped up bargain shares and eyed hopes of more eurozone stimulus, after recent heavy falls sparked by global growth worries.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies jumped 2.31 percent to 6,046.0 points in early afternoon deals.

In Paris, the CAC 40 index leapt 2.74 percent to 4,349.75 compared with Tuesday's close.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 won 2.37 percent to 9,674.61 but troubled carmaker Volkswagen reversed some of its earlier gains after announcing plans to recall millions of cars fitted with pollution-cheating software.

VW's share price rose as high as 101.60 euros, but later stood at 96.79 euros, up 1.67 percent from Tuesday.

In foreign exchange, the euro slipped to $1.1217 from $1.1254 late on Tuesday in New York, as markets awaited Friday's key US jobs data.

"Wednesday morning’s super, if unwarranted, surge continued as the day went on, as a wave European data seemingly aided the indices with their gains," said analyst Connor Campbell at trading firm Spreadex.

Eurozone inflation unexpectedly fell to negative 0.1 percent in September, data showed, suggesting a dangerous spell of falling prices could be returning to Europe.

The return to negative territory will add to pressure on the European Central Bank to increase its huge quantitative easing (QE) stimulus programme which is meant to ward off deflation and keep the economy on track.

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a zero rate after a gain of 0.1 percent in August.

"Whilst one month of negative inflation is not going to send (ECB head) Mario Draghi scrambling to open his big box of ECB QE, it does suggest that, perhaps, the central bank’s stimulus programme is not having the same effect as it did when it was first introduced back in March," added Campbell.

Back then, the ECB launched a more than one-trillion-euro  quantitative easing stimulus programme running through to September next year to get eurozone inflation closer to its 2.0 percent target.

The ECB's scheme initially appeared to work, slowly pushing inflation back up in core eurozone economies such as France and Germany.

But the rise has now stalled in Germany, the eurozone's biggest economy.

Despite Wednesday's gains, Europe's stock markets have suffered hefty losses during the third quarter on fears surrounding China's slowing economy.

Frankfurt has slumped by 12 percent, while both London and Paris have each shed about eight percent in value over the last three months.

The region's equities had slid Tuesday on global growth jitters, adding to heavy losses at the start of the week, but Swiss mining giant Glencore's shares rebounded on assurances of solvency.

In early afternoon trade on Wednesday, Glencore's London shares gained another 11.03 percent to 89.02 pence.

Glencore shares had collapsed by almost 30 percent on Monday, rocked by gloomy analyst comments and worries about slowing economic growth in key commodity consumer China.

London's top gainer on Wednesday, meanwhile, was Sainsbury.

The supermarket group's share price surged 14.44 percent to 262.40 pence, after lifting its full-year profits forecast to £548 million ($831 million, 739 million euros).