The London market suffered another volatile day as worries over China returned to haunt the market once again.
The FTSE 100 Index see-sawed between positive and negative territory, shedding more than 100 points in early trading, later regaining ground to stand slightly ahead, before closing down 102.1 points at 5,979.2.
Germany's Dax and France's Cac 40 were also down by around 1%. But in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 150 points in early trading.
The FTSE 100 had seen a 10-day run of losses culminating in one of the worst sessions since the financial crisis when it fell 4.7% on Monday.
This was followed by a sharp 3.1% rise on Tuesday, boosted by an interest rate cut from China's central bank.
But the recovery was on course to last just one day and trading screens again turned red in the latest session after falls on Wall Street and another turbulent session in Asia as China's Shanghai Composite fell again while indices in Japan and South Korea rose.
Currency markets have also been affected as traders speculate that the turmoil will push back the timing of coming interest rate hikes by the Bank of England and US Federal Reserve.
Sterling fell by two cents against the US dollar to 1.55 while it was flat against the euro to 1.36 - having fallen sharply against the single currency earlier in the week.
In London shares, luxury fashion group Burberry was one of the biggest top-flight fallers, with a large chunk of its revenues coming from China. Shares slid 3%, or 45p, to 1347p.
Mining stocks - which have been particularly hard-hit by fears over the slowdown in China - had a topsy-turvy session, initially falling, later recovering, before ending the session lower.
BHP Billiton fell 1% or 11.5p to 1009.5p while Rio Tinto was down 44.5p to 2200p and Anglo American slumped 19.4p to 664.3p.
Among the few risers were Royal Bank of Scotland after it was named in a bullish broker note from Jefferies on prospects for the UK mortgage market. Shares rose 2.9p to 324.1p. However, Barclays, also seen as a likely beneficiary, fell 4.4p to 252p.
Elsewhere, tool and equipment firm HSS Hire slumped by 39%, or 50p, to 79p after warning full-year profits would be lower than expected due to weaker-than-forecast recent housing and home improvement markets.
Builders' merchant and DIY group Travis Perkins - whose fortunes are also linked to these markets - fell 43p to 1973p.
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 Index were International Airlines Group up 13.5p at 531.5p, Weir Group up 26p at 1358p, Royal Bank of Scotland up 2.9p at 324.1p and TUI up 5p at 1144p.
The biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 Index were Fresnillo down 45p at 594.5p, Standard Chartered down 37.7p at 707.3p, Randgold Resources down 184p at 3817p and Johnson Matthey down 108p at 2573p.
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