European stocks rebound after heavy falls

European equities rebounded on Wednesday, a day after tumbling on a sharp slowdown of business activity in the eurozone on hopes the ECB will step up its stimulus, dealers said.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index climbed 0.45 percent to end the day at 6,706.27 points, Frankfurt's DAX index added 0.70 percent to 9,661.97 points and in Paris the CAC 40 jumped 1.25 percent to 4,413.72 points
Rome shot up 1.67 percent and Madrid added 0.51 percent.
"Shares in Europe managed to stem the tide of selling that began the week taking their direction from a strong rally in Shanghai despite disappointing European economic and corporate data after Mario Draghi vowed to keep monetary policy accommodative," said analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets UK.
In the radio interview "Draghi didn't really say anything new but any statement he makes that hints at full quantitative easing has the market champing at the bit," said Lawler, as the ECB has been slowly moving towards injecting money into the economy as the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England have.
European and US stocks sank on Tuesday after a closely watched gauge of business activity in the 18-nation eurozone slipped again in September, fanning worries about the region's stuttering recovery.
Germany's Ifo business confidence indicator fell Wednesday to its lowest level in 17 months, which did not help improve confidence.
Yet in a positive note for France, the number of French making jobless benefit claims dropped in August for the first time in nine months.
In foreign exchange trading, the euro fell to $1.2789 from $1.2850 late in New York on Tuesday.
The single currency dropped also versus the British pound, to 78.23 pence against 78.40 pence on Tuesday. The pound slid to $1.6347 from $1.6389.
The price of gold slid to $1,217.25 an ounce from $1,222 on the London Bullion Market on Tuesday.
US shares also pushed higher Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.54 percent to stand at 17,147.71 points in midday trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.47 percent to 1,992.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.73 percent to 4,541.48.
- Air France confusion -
Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday as bargain-buying was offset by the effects of Tuesday's sell-off in New York and Europe in response to fresh data indicating weakness in the eurozone.
Tokyo slipped 0.24 percent as Japan's Nikkei returned from a public holiday to a stronger yen which put downward pressure on exporters.
Sydney declined 0.74 percent but Seoul added 0.33 percent.
Shanghai rallied 1.47 percent and Hong Kong closed up 0.35 percent following a better-than expected Chinese manufacturing report Tuesday.
Meanwhile in company movement on Wednesday, confusion swirled over Air France's plan for its low-cost subsidiary that has been at the heart of a bitter and costly strike, as the government and management contradicted each other within minutes.
As the strike at Europe's second-biggest flag carrier stretched into its 10th day, Transport Minister Alain Vidalies told French radio the airline had scrapped plans to expand its Transavia budget subsidiary.
But within minutes, an Air France spokesman told AFP it was "premature" to say the airline had buried the plans to develop its budget subsidiary, which it sees as vital to survive in the cut-throat world of low-cost aviation.
Negotiations between pilots and management restarted later in the day, helping shares in the wider Air France-KLM group climb 1.1 percent to 7.60 euros.