"We see real opportunities in Europe by specifically tapping into European shares," he said.

European shares also moved lower.

European shares, which slipped this morning, edge higher after demand for 2014 bonds was healthy, at one and a half time the volume sold.

Most of the second portfolio - 80 percent - was invested in United States stocks, with the remainder in European shares.

For instance, say you now invest 50 percent of your equity portfolio in domestic stocks, with the other half in European shares.

Again, this is not because Japanese stocks are expected to take off, as European or Latin American shares have done in recent years.

Trading in European shares rose 3 p.c. to £16.4 billion.

United States shares are far more expensive, relative to their earnings, than European shares.

Ford's European light-truck share rose to 12 percent, up 1.5 percent.

But European shares slid in early trading as the continent's debt crisis once again moved to the forefront.