The China Mail - European stocks, oil prices rise but euro hits 5-year dollar low

Elsewhere, Europe's Dutch TTF gas price briefly rebounded after Russia's energy giant Gazprom stopped gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland.

The two EU member nations had failed to pay in rubles despite President Vladimir Putin announcing that Russia would no longer accept payments in other currencies -- a retaliation for the West's economic sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Traders on Wednesday were unpicking "the familiar concerns about tech earnings, inflation, interest rates, China's lockdown... and the war in Ukraine", noted Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson.

Asian stock markets earlier closed lower but suffered losses less sharp than seen Tuesday on Wall Street.

The downbeat mood over the economy has been compounded by weak earnings from some of the world's biggest companies.

Tech firms, who rely on debt to drive growth, led Wall Street's plunge on fears that the Federal Reserve is at the beginning of a period of sharp interest-rate increases aimed at taming scorching inflation.

With the euro briefly dropping under $1.06 to record the lowest level since April 2017, analyst Wilson added that the "market clearly believes the Fed is going to town on rate hikes and the ECB is going to sit on its hands and do nothing".

While most Asian stock markets ended lower Wednesday, Shanghai bounced following a report that Chinese President Xi Jinping had committed to boosting infrastructure construction as a means of accelerating the economy.

The comments were the latest from China's top brass, which has made a series of promises in recent weeks to kickstart growth.

However analysts said this had been offset by the leaders' refusal to back away from their strict Covid lockdown strategy.

Oil prices -- which have recently been under pressure owing to worries about weaker Chinese demand -- jumped Wednesday in line with gas prices.

- Key figures at 1100 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 7,453.97 points

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.9 percent at 6,469.52

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.5 percent at 13,828.26

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.6 percent at 3,745.19

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.2 percent at 26,386.63 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 19,946.36 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 2.5 percent at 2,958.28 (close)

New York - Dow: DOWN 2.4 percent at 33,240.18 (close)

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.2 percent at $105.23 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $102.04 per barrel

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0609 from $1.0636 late Tuesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2583 from $1.2576

Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.31 pence from 84.55 pence

Dollar/yen: UP at 127.89 yen from 127.21 yen

V.Liu--ThChM