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London - Airline and travel stocks rebounded on Wednesday after sharp falls caused by the deadly Brussels attacks, with European equity markets ending mixed overall.
"Stocks in Europe erased early gains and slid into negative territory as oil and resource shares dropped amid falling commodity prices," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.
However London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rebounded in late trading to close with a 0.1% gain, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.3%. In Paris CAC 40 slid 0.2%.
All had slumped on Tuesday after news broke of the triple blasts that killed some 30 people and left around 250 injured in Brussels that were claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, but had rallied to post small gains.
On Wednesday, police identified two of the suicide bombers as brothers linked to the prime suspect in the November 13 Paris attacks, as a manhunt for a third assailant gained pace.
After having slid on Tuesday, travel and airline stocks fought back.
"Travel and leisure stocks staged a recovery on Wednesday with Carnival and Merlin Entertainments recouping losses brought on by the attacks in Brussels," said Lawler.
Cruise line operator Carnival rose 1.9%, while attractions and hotel operator Merlin Entertainments climbed 1.6%.
easyJet climbed 0.7%, tourism group TUI won 0.5%, and airline Deutsche Lufthansa rose 1.3%.
Asian markets broadly retreated, playing catch-up with losses incurred on Wall Street following the deadly bombings in the Belgian capital.
Asian investors played it safe with few catalysts to drive trade as dealers eye the long Easter break that starts Friday, analysts said.
The mood across regional trading floors remained "cautious to negative", Jackson Wong, Hong Kong-based associate director at Simsen Financial Group, told AFP.
"Investors are reluctant to get in (the market) at this point," Wong said.
All Nippon Airways lost 0.51% and Korean Air Lines dropped 1.48% in trading on Wednesday.
Bernard Aw, a market analyst at IG trading group, said "the impact of terror attacks on financial markets has become less and less dramatic in recent years, compared with the aftermath of the September 11 attacks".
Major disequilibrium
Wall Street also moved lower, with energy and natural resources following commodity prices downward.
The Dow was down 0.1% in midday trading, with Chevron down 2.0% and Exxon Mobil off 0.2%.
"The fall of oil prices following announcement of the US Department of Energy, contributed to the drop in the indices," said analyst Yoav Nizard at FXCM, an online currency trading house.
US crude stockpiles shot up last week much higher than analysts expected to strike a new record level of 532.5 million barrels.
The figures "confirm the major disequilibrium between supply and demand" said Nizard, as well as risk oil prices could fall further.
Meanwhile shares in sneaker maker Nike stumbled 3.4 after failing to clear the bar of analysts' expectations with its third quarter sales figures, raising concerns about the sports shoe and apparel giant ahead of a heavy summer season for sports that includes the 2016 Olympics.
The dollar gained against the euro and yen following comments by a US Federal Reserve member that the next hike in interest rates could come in April.
The dollar had weakened sharply last week after the Fed indicated it would likely raise interest rates twice this year, instead of four times.
