BREAKING NEWS

Europe shares halt sell-off; eyes on Fed

LONDON - European shares ended broadly higher on Tuesday, halting a 20 percent dive over 2-1/2 weeks as traders started rummaging around for bargains, with hopes the US Federal Reserve will hint at a plan to revive the economy.
Investors will be looking for signs in the Fed's policy meeting statement later on Tuesday that the central bank might intervene to help stimulate the flagging economy and shore up its financial system.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares provisionally closed 1.3 percent higher at 948.21 points in strong volume, after sinking by as much as 5 percent and hitting a two-year low earlier in the session.
The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources index which has lost about 20.5 percent in just over two weeks, gained 3 percent, with big mining stocks featuring amongst the best performers.