Europe's main stock markets stumbled on Thursday as investors took profits and digested economic data including a larger-than-expected eurozone trade deficit, dealers said.

In late morning European trade, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index gained just 0.08 percent to 5,649.25 points, while the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.17 percent to 3,951.38 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 eased 0.02 percent to 6,023.02.

The Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares decreased by 0.34 percent to 2,921.33 points.

In foreign exchange trade, the euro sank under 1.37 dollars on stubborn worries over the Greek debt crisis after the nation warned again that it could appeal for aid to the International Monetary Fund.

"It appears that an element of profit taking has overcome investors this morning as the previously buoyant mining and bank sectors find themselves raided," said analyst Anthony Grech at financial betting firm IG Index.

Meanwhile, traders absorbed official data showing that the eurozone flipped back into a trade deficit of 8.9 billion euros (12.1 billion dollars) in January, after posting a 4.1-billion-euro surplus in December.

The economy of the 16 nations that share the under-pressure euro currency posted a surplus of 22.3 billion euros for the whole of 2009, reversing a record deficit in 2008. January last year also began with a deficit, of 12.1 billion euros.

The Eurostat figures, a first estimate, also showed that the full, 27-nation European Union had a trade deficit of 22.5 billion euros, after a 2.5-billion-euro deficit in December.

Elsewhere, Asian shares also succumbed to profit-taking on Thursday as dealers moved to cash in on the previous day's gains after the Japanese and US central banks held interest rates at record lows.

Hopes for an economic recovery lifted regional indexes on Wednesday after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) said it would keep rates at near zero and would double a loan facility available to other banks in order to increase credit.

That announcement came after the US Federal Reserve pledged to keep its lending rate at rock-bottom "for an extended period" in light of tame inflation and high unemployment in a bid to help a fragile recovery from recession.

However, with little else to drive buying on Thursday investors chose to sell up, fearing the market was overpriced.

Tokyo's Nikkei dropped 0.95 percent to 10,744.03 points and Hong Kong lost 0.25 percent to 21,220.67.

Shanghai ended 0.14 percent lower, with concerns that Beijing will tighten credit also weighing on sentiment.

In New York on Wednesday, Wall Street posted modest gains Wednesday after a tame inflation report eased fears of interest rate hikes a day after the Federal Reserve issued a slightly better economic outlook.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.45 percent to 10,733.67, marking a seven-session winning streak that took the blue-chip index to a more than 17-month high.

US producer prices fell unexpectedly sharply in February, snapping a four-month increase, with the decline led by falling prices of energy-linked goods, the Labor Department said.