Summary Equities were steady Wednesday as investors took in stride news that the eurozone recession eased.
LONDON (AFP) -London s benchmark FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.10 percent to 6,693.03 points in afternoon trading.
In Paris, the CAC 40 gave up 0.29 percent to 3,954.74 as official data showed that France has entered recession.
Frankfurt s DAX 30 index slid 0.24 percent to 8,319.10 points amid news of slender quarterly growth.
Madrid gained 0.69 percent and Milan added 0.10 percent.
Recession eased across the eurozone in the first quarter of 2013, official data showed, with a 0.2 percent contraction between January and March.
However EU data agency Eurostat said that marked the sixth consecutive quarterly shrinkage of economic output across the 17 states that share the euro currency.
While core economy Germany clambered out of negative territory with 0.1-percent growth after a 0.7-percent slide at the end of 2012, France logged a 0.2-percent reduction to enter a technical recession.
And both Italy and Spain posted 0.5-percent first-quarter declines.
"European financial markets have a had a reality check with data," said ETX Capital trader Ishaq Siddiqi.
However, he added that share prices held up well amid hopes that the poor data could trigger more stimulus measures from the European Central Bank, which cut interest rates to a record-low 0.50 percent earlier this month.
"The outcome of eurozone GDP hasn t triggered a reversal of the bullish tone as many believe that this will only push the ECB to consider options to provide further stimulus measures, and also in part that the Q1 period was affected by cold weather conditions which stalled growth for the core regions," said Siddiqi.
In reaction to the data, the European single currency tumbled as low as $1.2843 -- last seen in early April. It later stood at $1.2885, down from $1.2924 late in New York on Tuesday.
"The crisis in the eurozone continues, with the French economy slipping back into recession while Germany manages to eke out a modicum of growth," noted IG sales trader Yusuf Heusen.
"Eurozone GDP as a whole was unsurprisingly weak, reminding us that while we are no longer expecting a Spanish or Italian bailout on a daily basis, the overall situation remains dire."
The euro also hit 132.77 yen -- the highest level since January 2010, on the back of Japan s vast monetary easing policies. It later pulled back to 131.64, down from 132.23 on Tuesday.
The dollar meanwhile soared to 102.76 yen touching its highest level since October 2008, aided also by solid US data. It later fell back to 102.18 yen, down from 102.31 on Tuesday.
On the London Bullion Market, gold decreased to $1,412.25 an ounce from $1,433.75.
Asian stock markets were mostly higher Wednesday, with the tumbling yen pushing Japanese stocks to a fresh multi-year high as improving confidence in the US economy boosted prospects for regional exporters.
Tokyo jumped 2.29 percent, climbing above the psychologically key 15,000-mark for the first time in more than five years to end at 15,096.03 points, as the greenback surged against the yen after record gains on Wall Street on Tuesday.
US stocks opened mixed on Wednesday after fresh data showed the eurozone economy contracted in the first quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.12 percent to 15,197.29 points after five minutes of trade.
The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.06 percent to 1,649.37, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.08 percent at 3,465.32.
