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Shares on Wall Street have steadied after big falls in Asian stocks and a bruising trading session in New York on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones, the broader S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq all opened higher.
That followed a calmer morning's trading in Europe, with most indexes higher or little changed by early afternoon.
Earlier, Tokyo stocks had slumped more than 3%, taking their cue from Wall Street's worst day for seven years.
On Wednesday, Wall Street losses pushed the US Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 below their starting point at the beginning of the year, after concerns over corporate profits, US-China trade tensions, and slowing growth have rattled investors.
By early afternoon trading on Thursday, London's FTSE 100 was 0.3% lower, but the broader FTSE 250 was 0.3% higher.
Some of the concern comes from nervousness around China, as its economy slows and companies report increased costs due to labour shortages and tariffs.
Major US indices had lost about 2% on Wednesday, but about two minutes into trading on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up half a percent at 24,702.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7% in the first few minutes, while the tech-rich Nasdaq jumped 1.4%.