Steady US calms jitters over hung parliament for shares

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Strong data on employment in the US helped stave off a further heavy sell-off, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average staying relatively steady in early trading.

The FTSE 100 index, like most major indices in Europe, was down only about 1% despite the 3% slump on Wall Street last night.

Analysts said investors in shares were watching more closely the crisis in Europe than the domestic UK political scene, so the more positive message from the US this afternoon acted as what one trader called a "healing balm".

Although the 9% crash on the Dow yesterday was apparently mostly due to a mistaken trade, part of the fall was due to fears about the deteriorating situation in Greece.

Group of Seven industrial nations leaders were this afternoon holding a conference call to discuss Greece, with Alistair Darling still representing the UK despite Labour's poor showing in the election. The German parliament approved its big share of the bailout today while Holland was expected to follow suit.

In the US, Federal Reserve officials expressed their concern at the potential for the Greek situation to spread to other countries in the region.