World shares stabilise as central bank fears linger

Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index was flat in early trading near six-week lows, MSCI's world equity index was also unchanged

World equities stabilised on Wednesday and the dollar clawed back some of the previous day's losses against the yen although markets remained on edge over the future of central bank support.

Fears that major central banks will begin to cool their commitment to monetary stimulus even while dark clouds still linger over the global economy had sparked worldwide selling of stocks, bonds and commodities on Tuesday.

The dollar chalked up its biggest one-day fall against the yen since May 2010, and remained under pressure on Wednesday although it staged a fragile recovery in early European trading to be up 0.75 percent at around 96.75 yen.

"We could be headed for a nervy session because we haven't got any new big theme to trade around," said Simon Smith, chief economist at FxPro.

Another volatile session in Tokyo stocks left Asian shares at fresh 2013 lows. Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index was flat in early trading near six-week lows, with MSCI's world equity index also unchanged.

Safe-haven German bond futures remained weak, slipping 12 ticks to 142.56 ahead of a two-year bond auction that is expected to go well after the sell-off pushed yields higher.