Sell-off in European equities slows European markets slowed the steep descents seen over recent sessions, with Spanish stocks leading gains on Thursday after recovering slightly from nine-year lows. The wider Ibex 35 index was trading in positive territory, climbing 1.5 per cent to 6,912 after flirting with a nine-year low on Wednesday. However, Bankia continued to see heavy selling, with shares falling 3.7 per cent to €2.05 after it emerged last night that the Spanish government had taken a 45 per cent stake in the country's third-largest bank by assets. Growing fears over the financial system have left Spain's benchmark bond yields above 6 per cent, close to borrowing levels considered unsustainable by the market. In Athens, the main Athens General index climbed 2.3 per cent, to 629.38 as investors waited for further developments after Sunday's elections left Greece without a majority ruling party. Elsewhere in Europe, markets were marginally down, with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 falling 0.4 per cent to 1,010.98. JCDecaux made heavy losses in morning trading after the outdoor advertising group said it expected a slowdown in revenues later this year. Shares in JC Decaux tumbled 8.6 per cent to €19.17 after the group blamed sluggish demand for advertising in China and southern Europe for a 1 per cent fall in organic growth in the second quarter. In Stockholm, Skanska flirted with five-month lows after the Swedish building group announced an unexpected fall in pre-tax profits in the first quarter. Shares lost 7 per cent, falling to SKr101.80. In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.7 per cent to 3,095.46, led by Sanofi . Shares in the French pharmaceutical company fell 4.2 per cent to €55.68 In Milan, the FTSE MIB was mainly trading flat at 13,771, while Germany's Xetra Dax was up 0.2 per cent at 6,490.45.