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London - European stock markets broadly crept ahead on Wednesday but lost some ground in afternoon trading despite strong US jobs data and on the eve of a eurozone interest rate decision.
Trading was marked also by several initial public offerings in Europe.
Wall Street opened on a steady note after breaking record highs on Tuesday and reacting calmly to strong US jobs data which pushed up the dollar.
In early afternoon deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.15% to stand at 6 813.42 points.
Interest rate
Frankfurt's DAX 30 edged up 0.04% to 9 906.39 points but eased back from early gains and the CAC 40 in Paris retreated from early gains for a loss of 0.51% to 4 438.31 compared to Tuesday's closing level.
The euro fell to $1.3648 from $1.3677 late on Tuesday in New York, while the pound hit another near six-year high at $1.7147 on expectations of a British interest rate rise.
Asian markets also advanced on Wednesday, taking a strong lead from a record close on Wall Street which was buoyed by solid Chinese manufacturing data.
Later on Wednesday, investors will digest a speech from US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen for clues on the interest rate outlook.
Employment report
Seasonally adjusted US private sector jobs data on Wednesday showed the biggest increase of 281,000 since November 2012, far above the expected figure of 200,000.
That data came ahead of the government's employment report on Thursday.
US financial markets will be closed on Friday for Independence Day.
The European Central Bank will also announce the outcome of its monetary policy meeting on Thursday, but is expected to sit tight one month after launching anti-deflationary measures and negative deposit interest rates.
Telecoms sector
In company news on Wednesday, telecom shares slid in Paris after Orange said it had decided not to play a role in consolidating the French telecoms market, with the effect that it would not buy its French rival Bouygues Telecom.
The news sent shares in Orange - formerly known as France Telecom - down 2.88% to 11.455 euros.
In Brussels, EU anti-trust authorities cleared the sale of German E-plus, a unit of Dutch KPN, to Spanish group Telefonica, in another significant decision concerning consolidation of the European telecoms sector.
In Paris, an initial public offering for professional social media firm Viadeo flopped with the shares falling 17.25% to 14.15 euros. This followed weak starts for recent French launches of Euronext stock market operator, and Worldline, the payments terminal activities of computer service consultancy Atos.
Analysts said this reflected a glut of such issues and reluctance of investors to risk over-paying.
Healthy gains
In the Netherlands however, shares in NN Group insurance company shot up 5.0% to 21.07 euros in an IPO by ING bank.
In Milan, an IPO for Fineco, the online banking branch of UniCredit, went well, with the shares surging 6.49% to 3.94 euros.
In Paris, shares in biology company Metabolic Explorer (METEX) leapt 39.69% to 3.59 euros after it signed an agreement with South Korean firm SK Chemicals.
Asian stock markets advanced on Wednesday as a weaker yen helped Tokyo add to the previous day's healthy gains.
Japanese stocks rose 0.29%, Sydney added 1.48% and Seoul put on 0.81%, while Shanghai ended 0.44% higher and Hong Kong was up 1.55%.
