European blue chips were flat yesterday afternoon, paring gains following weak data from Germany's ZEW institute and weighed down by technology titan Nokia after its sales update disappointed.
Battered financials such as Munich Re, BNP Paribas, Barclays, and Allianz led the gainers, while tech stocks were among the chief fallers as investors reweighted their portfolios.
"It is not surprising to see tech stocks such as Nokia falling back as the sector has had such a good run," said Jason James, a global strategist at HSBC Securities.
"The tech sector is on a high beta of two, which means if the market rises or falls by five per cent then the group normally moves by ten per cent."
By 1435 GMT, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips was up 0.09 per cent, with the euro zone DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index easing about 0.02 per cent.
That left the Eurotop 300 benchmark about 12 per cent higher than October's five-and-a-half-year intraday low but some eight per cent off its recent high. Investor hopes that the worst of a three-year bear market was finally over ebbed amid signs showing the global economic recovery remained fragile.
Data from Germany compounded that growing consensus. The ZEW institute's expectations indicator for the German economy fell in December by more than expected for the sixth month on a row.
The index is seen by many as foreshadowing Germany's Ifo business climate indicator, due to be released on December 18 and considered a key gauge of the performance of the German and the euro zone economy.
Rising stocks and fallers were roughly evenly matched, but volumes were thin.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.43 per cent firmer while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was 0.69 per cent stronger.
Nokia topped the blue-chip loserboard, dropping six per cent, after the world's biggest mobile phone maker warned fourth quarter sales would be slightly less than expected.
However, the group also said pro forma diluted earnings per share would be comfortably within its previously indicated range of €0.23-€0.25.
"People are using the update to give the stock a bit of a slap, but they haven't said anything we didn't really know already," said one dealer.
The Nokia news knocked other telecom gear makers such as Sweden's Ericsson and Alcatel which sank 5.9 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, shares in Cable & Wireless continued their slide, falling a further 18 per cent after the UK telecoms group lost more than 40 per cent of its value on Monday on credit ratings concern.
Later, the US Federal Reserve hosts its regular rate-setting FOMC meeting, with a statement due at 1915 GMT, after the close of European markets. No change in US interest rates is expected, after a surprise half-per centage-point cut on November 6.