AlHijjah 22, 1435, Oct 16, 2014, SPA -- European stocks ended Thursday lower but pared back heavy losses run up earlier in the session after shares on Wall Street opened only marginally down, dpa reported. New York's Dow Jones industrial average was 0.3 per cent lower at 16,100 points as a result offering support to European stocks after investor worries about the reemergence of the euro debt crisis drove stocks lower earlier in the day. The Dow's fall was less than the New York market's 1.1-per-cent close on Wednesday with a stronger-than-expected US jobs and healthy corporate quarterly earnings reports helping to allay fears about the global economic outlook and the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. By late afternoon trading bourses in London, Frankfurt and Paris had retreated from the big falls posted earlier in the day. At one point the eurozone's blue-chip Eurostoxx 50 index dived 3.6 per cent. This came after a barrage of gloomy economic data from the US, China and Europe set alarm bells ringing among investors around the world. The Eurostoxx 50 index ended Thursday down 0.62 per cent at 2874.65 points after closing down 3.61 per cent on Wednesday. Germany's share market in Frankfurt closed 0.13-per-cent lower after chalking falls of more than 2 per cent earlier in the day. Banking stocks bore the brunt of the slump with leading European lenders including France's Societe General as well as Germany's Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank posting losses of between 4 and 5 per cent earlier in the session. The euro also retraced earlier losses to finish the European trading day down 0.1 per cent to 1.2809 dollars. Bourses in cash-strapped eurozone nations such as Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain had posted some of their biggest falls in earlier trading Thursday since the market turmoil unleashed at the height of the euro debt crisis more than two years ago. Figures released Thursday showing annual inflation in the eurozone edging down closer to zero helped trigger renewed fears that the 18-member currency bloc was facing a bout of Japanese-style deflation. While share markets in Athens, Rome, Lisbon and Madrid fell at one point by up to 4 per cent, bond yields climbed as investors fretted about the impact of a stagnating eurozone on their nations' already fragile economies. The eurozone's grim economic prospects also helped to drive the oil price lower again as traders grew worried of a glut in crude in the wake of weakening global growth after the International Energy Agency on Wednesday revised its demand forecast down. Benchmark Brent oil prices dropped to a four-year low of about 83 dollars a barrel with Thursday's fall adding to the 25-per-cent drop since June. Gold bucked the trend as investors fled to the safe haven investment, resulting in the price of the precious metal recording a modest gain to 1,243 dollars an ounce in European trading. Thursday's markets selloff added to downward spiral in shares that have emerged over the last month. The downbeat mood on European and US markets is likely to help set the stage for further falls across Asia on Friday after the region's markets also posted losses. -- SPA 19:21 LOCAL TIME 16:21 GMT تغريد
