Shares in Frankfurt came to the end of a three-day downward trend yesterday, the Xetra DAX index closing up 14.73 at 6,927.69.
Deutsche Telekom led a technology sector rally, with stock overhang concerns ahead of next month's sale of state-owned shares being countered by hopes for improving liquidity as the stock's free-float rises above 50 per cent.
Telekom improved €2.55, or 4.5 per cent, to €58.70 in 6.6 million shares traded. Siemens put on €4.60 at €146.70 and SAP €24.50 at €559.10.
Insurers had a rough ride following a Goldman Sachs downgrade for Allianz, which it moved from "market outperform" to "market perform". Allianz, off €28.20, or 7 per cent, at €374.26, was the worst-performing share in the FTSE Eurotop 300 index. Sector rival Munich Re came off €13.30 at €285.
Paris held up well and the CAC-40 index gained 54.39 to 6,148.56, a rise of 0.9 per cent. Media shares, which took the worst of Monday's beating, bounced back, with television company TF1 up 3.7 per cent to €643 and pay-TV group Canal Plus up 3.3 per cent to €170.50.
Telecoms also staged a comeback. France Telecom rose 3.6 per cent to €137.30, Bouygues rose 2.5 per cent to €579.50 and Alcatel rose 3 per cent to €52.35.
Among techs, STMicroelectronics added 3.1 per cent to €64.05. Computer services company Cap Gemini, however, slipped 1.9 per cent to €173.10 as investors awaited the pricing of its placement of 11 million shares tied to its acquisition of Ernst & Young.
Among old economy shares, Credit Lyonnais gained 2.2 per cent to €42.40 on bargain-hunting after losing more than 10 per cent in the last two sessions.
Franco-German drugs group Aventis, which staged an impressive bounce in recent days after sinking to €47 in mid-March, rose another 0.8 per cent to €66.80 after reporting strong profits.
Oslo slipped as industry and shipping shares were hit by weaker oil prices. The all-share index lost 3.8 to 1,360.3.
Helsinki, which on Monday saw its biggest fall since 1987, closed 2 per cent firmer after investors jumped back into heavyweight Nokia. The general index added 299.71 to 14,741.60, while Nokia was up 3 per cent at €51.80.
