LONDON - Britain's top shares ended flat as jitters over Europe's debt eroded early gains, with miners weak on demand concerns and travel firms hit by the Icelandic ash cloud. The FTSE 100 closed at 5,262.54 points, down 0.31 or 0.01 percent.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:EUROFIRST

EUROPE - European shares ended lower, with miners weak as metals prices fell on a strengthening dollar, while gains in defensive food producers and drugmakers limited wider losses.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares closed 0.1 percent lower at 1,013.06 points, after climbing to a high of 1,025.78 earlier in the session.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:EUROmarkets

FRANKFURT - The DAX index ended at 6,066.92 points, up 10.21 or 0.17 percent.

PARIS - The CAC-40 index closed at 3,543.55 points, down 16.81 or 0.47 percent.

ZURICH - The Swiss market index closed at 6,428.86 points, up 0.18 or zero percent.

MILAN - The FT IT All Share index closed at 20,415.83 points, up 17.79 or 0.09 percent.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:nikkei

TOKYO - Japan's Nikkei average fell 2.2 percent to a 10-week closing low as the euro's tumble to a four-year trough chilled investor sentiment and fanned worries that the euro zone's fiscal woes could slow global economic growth. The Nikkei slipped 226.75 points to 10,235.76.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:hang seng

HONG KONG - Hong Kong shares closed lower as worries of more tightening measures in China to curb accelerating property prices and sovereign debt woes in the Eurozone weighed on sentiment. The Hang Seng Index ended down 2.14 percent or 430.23 points at 19,715.2, the lowest since February 8 this year.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:asx

SYDNEY - Australian stocks slumped 3.1 percent to close at an eight-month low, led by mining shares, as investors fretted that Europe's sovereign debt crisis could hurt global growth. The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 143.9 points to close at 4,467.2.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:south africa

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's rand weakened against the dollar but was off earlier lows, helped by euro gains against the greenback. The All-share index closed at 27,306.74 points, down 35.61 or 0.13 percent. The All Gold index closed at 2,524.44 points, up 29.69 or 1.19 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 21,739.8 points, down 45.02 or 0.21 percent.