European stock markets steadier after slide

European stock markets were steadier on Tuesday after opening the week with heavy losses, while the share price of mining giant Glencore enjoyed a modest recovery.

Volkswagen was flat after the previous day's tumble but Wolseley, the British supplier of plumbing and heating products, plunged in the wake of a poorly-received annual earnings update.

Approaching midday in London, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was showing a loss of 0.48 percent at 5,930.40 points.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 was flat at 9,483.47 points and the Paris CAC 40 dipped 0.17 percent to 4,349.75 compared with Monday's close.

In foreign exchange, the euro edged down to $1.1238 from $1.1242 late on Monday in New York, as markets awaited Friday's key US jobs data for indications on whether the Federal Reserve will kick-start a programme of interest rate increases before the end of the year.

European stocks indices had sunk on Monday as more disappointing Chinese economic data and downbeat analyst comment weighed on the mining sector, with London-listed Glencore closing down almost 30 percent.

Shares in the group though pulled back in London trading on Tuesday, with Glencore winning 8.86 percent to 74.70 pence.

"Talk of Glencore, which lost around a third of its market cap yesterday, going private, is offering some relief," Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at stockbroker Interactive Investor, said in a note to clients.

Trading of Volkswagen shares, which has been extremely volatile over the past week, were meanwhile stable at 99.27 euros.

The scandal-hit group on Tuesday stated that 1.8 million of its commercial vehicles worldwide are fitted with the sophisticated software enabling them to cheat emission tests.

A company spokesman said the number is part of the 11 million vehicles worldwide that VW has said are affected by the crisis engulfing the world's biggest carmaker.

Andreas Rees, chief economist on Germany at UniCredit Research, said it was "too early to make any reliable forecast of the macro impact of Volkswagen," adding that "there are a couple of unknown quantities such as the pending lawsuits and how strongly consumers and policymakers will react."

Elsewhere on Tuesday, shares in Wolseley shed 12.47 percent to 3,658 pence.

"The market appears to be concentrating on the fall in pre-tax profit as a result of a writedown in its Nordic business," said Graham Spooner, investment research analyst at trading group The Share Centre.

"More significantly for investors, the group highlighted a challenging fourth quarter in parts of its all-important North American operations, which account for around three-quarters of its trading profit."