LONDON: Europe's main stock markets ended mixed Wednesday as investors digested downbeat industrial production data in the eurozone, dealers said.
Wall Street slid lower after two days of record closing highs, while Asian equities turned in mixed performances.
After spending most of the day in negative territory as some investors booked profits, London and Frankfurt recovered in afternoon trading.
London closed up 0.08 percent to 6,878.49 points, boosted by upbeat unemployment data and a growth forecast upgrade from the Bank of England.
Frankfurt was essentially flat at 9,754.39 points, off a few hundredths of a point from a record close set on Tuesday, while the CAC 40 in Paris drifted down 0.09 percent to 4,501.04 but still remains close to six-year highs.
Madrid climbed 0.25 while Milan slid 0.34 percent, but Lisbon tumbled 3.4 percent as investors punished bank shares following poor results.
London benefitted from data showing that Britain's unemployment rate dropped to a five-year low point of 6.8 percent in the three months to March, as the economic recovery gathers strength.
Meanwhile, eurozone industrial output fell in March, consistent with recent data showing the economic recovery to be patchy so far.
Industrial output in the 18-nation eurozone slid 0.3 percent in March compared with February when it gained 0.2 percent, the Eurostat statistics agency said.
Investors looking at inflation:
Elsewhere, other data showed French inflation rose in April by 0.7 percent on a 12-month basis, while German inflation accelerated slightly for the first time this year, by 1.3 percent.
"Eurozone data today confirmed the picture of very subdued inflation which make it increasingly likely that the European Central Bank will ease its monetary policy stance in June," added Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at stockbroker Interactive Investor.
"This should provide support for European equities going forward, but until words turn into action, investors are likely to be more cautious and may well take the opportunity to bank profits."
Analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets UK said investors were for Thursday's "key eurozone CPI number that the ECB will use as a barometer for the need for monetary easing."
The London stock market was hit by a high number of UK companies going ex-dividend, meaning their stock no longer carries the right to recently declared dividends.
The top faller however was British commercial broadcaster ITV, whose share price slumped 6.2 percent to 179.1 pence after a weak earnings update.
On the upside, shares in Compass rallied 1.6 percent to 996 pence after the British catering firm said Wednesday it will return £1.0 billion ($1.7 billion, 1.2 billion euros) to shareholders via a special dividend.
The group also ramped up its interim shareholder dividend by 10 percent to 8.8 pence per share.
In Frankfurt, RWE was the heaviest faller after Germany's second-biggest power supplier cut its full-year forecasts and posted tumbling first-quarter profits.
Net profit fell 35.5 percent to 838 million euros ($1.2 billion) in the period from January to March.
In rection, RWE's share price sank 2.2 percent to 27.02 euros.
US stocks slid on Wednesday following mixed earnings reports, snapping a two-day streak of record closing highs on the Dow and S&P 500.
In midday trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.30 percent to 16,664.51 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 slid 0.15 percent to 1,894.64, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.23 percent to 4,120.47.
Asian stocks were mixed, with Tokyo and Shanghai easing 0.14 percent, while Sydney was flat.
Seoul closed 1.41 percent higher and Hong Kong advanced 1.03 percent.
Euro rises:
In foreign exchange deals, the euro rose to $1.3718 from $1.3701 late in New York on Tuesday.
Sterling slid against the euro and the dollar as dealers concluded that the Bank of England (BoE) was in no hurry to raise British interest rates, dealers said.
The BoE raised its 2015 growth forecast to 2.9 percent on Wednesday, adding that the economy was heading "back to normal" as the recovery picks up speed, but most analysts do not see it beginning to raise interest rates from their record low level until the beginning of next year.
The European single currency rose to 81.73 pence from 81.43 pence on Tuesday, while the British pound slid to $1.6784 from $1.6823.
The price of gold advanced to $1,305.25 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,296.50 on Tuesday.
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