LONDON, March 28: European stock markets slid on Wednesday on surging crude oil prices, after losses across other global indices, dealers said. Frankfurt's DAX 30 index of leading shares fell 0.37 per cent to 6,833.26 points and in Paris the CAC 40 dropped 0.28 per cent to 5,571.63 in early afternoon trade.

In late morning trading, London's FTSE 100 edged down by 0.01 per cent to 6,292.10 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chip shares decreased 0.39 per cent to 4,137.56 points.

The euro stood at 1.3339 dollars.

US shares posted losses Tuesday as investors appeared unsettled by a weaker-than-expected snapshot on consumer spending and lingering troubles affecting the nation's housing market.

Rising oil prices increase costs for companies and therefore weigh on most share prices. However energy companies benefit as more expensive crude increases their profits.

Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell saw its 'B' shares jump 1.48 per cent to 1,709 pence and rival BP soared 1.84 per cent to 553.5 pence in London. French peer Total rose 1.73 per cent to 52.34 euros in Paris.

The mining sector meanwhile suffered on the back of easing metals prices.

In London, Rio Tinto stock sank 2.01 per cent to 2,826 pence and Kazakhmys fell 0.69 per cent to 1,145.00 pence, while shares in steel giant Arcelor Mittal dipped 1.56 per cent to 39.02 euros in Paris.

In Frankfurt, Volkswagen shares tumbled 1.37 per cent to 111.95 euros after Porsche, the German maker of luxury sports cars, officially launched a mandatory takeover offer for Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker.

But the price appeared low, suggesting that Porsche did not really want the bid to succeed.

Stuttgart-based Porsche, which has raised its stake in VW to 30.94 per cent, said in a short statement that it would offer to buy all the remaining shares in the car maker at 100.92 euros (134 dollars) apiece, as required by law.

In Paris The price of shares in pipe maker Vallourec rose by 2.33 per cent to 180.10 euros on a broker' suggestion that the company might be the target of a bid from steel maker Arcelor Mittal. But the head of the steel group Lakshmi Mittal said later that his group was not interested “for the moment”.

In US deals on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.58 per cent at 12,397.29 points.

The Nasdaq composite finished 0.74 per cent lower at 2,437.43 points and the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 dropped 0.62 per cent at 1,428.61.

Stocks fell after the Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index dropped to 107.2 from 111.2 in February.—AFP