London - European shares rose on Wednesday after a two-day losing streak, with automakers boosted by a Chinese tax cut on small cars, while miner Glencore rallied after saying it had no solvency issues.
However, European equities still faced their poorest quarterly performance since the worst of the euro zone crisis in 2011, with stock markets having steadily lost ground on signs of a slowdown in China, the world's second-biggest economy.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 1.6 percent while euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index advanced 1.8 percent, although the FTSEurofirst is down nearly 10 percent so far this quarter.
Germany's DAX rose 1.9 percent, but the DAX remains some 20 percent below a record high set in April.
“The kind of volatility we are seeing is not the good kind. Risk appetite is being hurt,” said Antonin Jullier, head of equity trading strategy for investment bank Citi in London.
The slowdown in China has impacted metals and energy prices, since China is major consumer of commodities, and this in turn has hit the shares of mining companies.
China's slowdown has also hit other sectors where China is a major export market, such as carmakers and luxury goods.
Mining and trading giant Glencore, whose shares have slumped some 80 percent since it listed on the stock market in 2011, rose 4.4 percent after it sought to reassure investors over its debt situation.
European car stocks such as Peugeot and Volkswagen also climbed higher after China halved sales tax on small cars to revive growth in the world's biggest automobile market, a move likely to provide a limited boost to carmakers including Volkswagen AG, which has been embroiled in a global diesel emissions scandal.
British supermarket group Sainsbury also surged 12 percent after the company said it was on course to beat annual profit forecasts, even though Sainsbury posted a seventh straight quarter of falling underlying sales.
REUTERS