LONDON - The FTSE 100 index of Britain's leading shares ended down after fluctuating in and out of positive territory, supported by M&A activity but weighed on by property shares and retailer Next.

The FTSE 100 closed at 6,559.5 points, down 9.1 or 0.14 percent.ROUNDUP:EUROFIRSTEUROPE - European share indexes eased, led by declines in banking stocks after France's Credit Agricole's first-quarter earnings disappointed some investors.

Italian banks Capitalia and UniCredit confirmed they were in merger talks to create Europe's second-largest bank, worth about $135 billion.

But this was not enough to lift the broader European equity market, which has gained about seven percent this year on the back of the flow of merger activity.ROUNDUP:EUROmarketsFRANKFURT - The DAX index ended at 7,481.25 points, down 24.1 or 0.32 percent.

PARIS - The CAC-40 index closed at 6,017.91 points, down 31.85 or 0.53 percent.

ZURICH - The Swiss market index closed at 9,357.53 points, down 33.5 or 0.36 percent.

MILAN - The All Share Mibtel index closed at 33,934 points, down 97 or 0.29 percent.ROUNDUP:nikkei>TOKYO - The Nikkei average edged up 0.09 percent as shares of Hitachi Ltd. rebounded after the electronics conglomerate said it would return to profit this year, offsetting losses in Kajima Corporation and other construction shares. The Nikkei was up 16.02 points at 17,529.00.ROUNDUP:hang sengHONG KONG - Blue chips climbed 0.33 percent and China plays gained 0.5 percent, as a rally in mainland-listed stocks prompted investors to buy China Life and other large-cap Chinese benchmark stocks.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed up 69.11 points at 20,937.26 on turnover of HK$57.3 billion (US$7.3 billion), well off Tuesday's near-record HK$77.1 billion.ROUNDUP:asx<.5b0>SYDNEY - Shares nudged up 0.05 percent, propped up by gains in top miner BHP Billiton after a rebound in copper and nickel prices and as Macquarie Bank raced to a record on upbeat earnings.

After a volatile trading session, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose just 3.4 points to 6,294.6, after falling as much as 0.4 percent earlier in the day.ROUNDUP:south africaJOHANNESBURG - South African main stock indexes hovered at barely changed levels as nervous investors mulled the market's direction after it hit successive fresh peaks this year.

The All-share index closed at 28,046.8 points, down 12.47 or 0.04 percent. The All Gold index closed at 2,688.5 points, down 27.86 or 1.03 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 19,479.16 points, up 50.65 or 0.26 percent.