Europe stocks falter in volatile trade

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London, January 18:: European stock markets closed lower Friday in very volatile trade as investors hoped for the best from a White House stimulus package aimed at keeping the US economy out of recession.

Dealers said heavy losses of 2.46 percent on Wall Street Thursday had pummelled Asian stocks early Friday but some of those markets then recovered to finish in positive territory.

That was enough to help Europe for a time against a backdrop of growing fears that the world's largest economy could be on the brink of stalling, threatening a major global slowdown.

An unrelenting series of weak US data, especially from the housing market where the collapse of the subprime home loan sector continues to inflict heavy damage on the banks, has put the markets firmly on the defensive.

At the same time, investors were hopeful that both President George W. Bush and the US Federal Reserve would take strong action to prevent a recession, with the White House due to announce a package of measures later Friday.

That helped Japanese share prices end up 0.56 percent, capping a dramatic late turnaround after a severe morning sell-off while Hong Kong put on 0.35 percent after a similar recovery.