Shares, euro steady after Cyprus bailout

European shares and the euro were steady on Tuesday, supported by some buyers taking advantage of a drop in prices on fears that Cyprus's raid on bank deposits could become the template for future euro zone bailouts.

Top European shares inched up in choppy early trading, but focus remained on Monday's comments from Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, that the Cypriot solution of making large depositors pay for bank bailouts could be repeated in future for countries with banking sector problems.

London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX were between flat and up 0.2 percent by 0815 GMT, while the ongoing nerves left the euro little changed near a four-month low at $1.2859.

"Dijsselbloem comment's will stay the focus of markets today," said ABN Amro economist Joost Beaumont.

"Markets are recovering a little bit and with the ECB now the lender of last resort it is hard to see a return to the depths of the crisis, but it is difficult to see a sharp rebound."

Caution was also seen in the bond market as German government bonds held near highs hit the previous session.

The Bund future was 8 ticks lower on the day at 144.64, after hitting its highest in nearly three weeks on Monday after Dijsselbloem's comments sent investors scurrying back to low-risk assets.