Swiss watchmakers said Wednesday that they are expecting demand in 2012 to beat that of 2011, when exports hit a record, even though growth would be less pronounced than last year.

"If exports reach between 20 and 25 billion francs in 2012, we would be satisfied," said Francois Thiebaud, who heads the Swiss exhibitors' committee at Baselworld, the world's biggest watch fair.

European stocks and the euro rebounded on Wednesday following a day of heavy falls on concern about global economic growth and a bond swap to cut Greek debt and avert default, traders said.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares gained 0.19 percent to 5,776.73 points in mid-morning deals, Frankfurt's DAX 30 won 0.33 percent to 6,655.19 points and in Paris the CAC 40 grew 0.75 percent to 3,387.59.

The Carso Group of the Mexican tycoon of Lebanese origin Carlos Slim, who is considered to be the world's richest man, said Tuesday it plans to invest nearly $4.7 billion in Mexico this year.

"During 2012, our investments in Mexico will be $4.66 billion, generating more than 100,000 jobs," according to the conglomerate. The projects include telecoms, construction, entertainment and health companies.

German sportswear maker adidas said Wednesday strong demand for its brand pushed it to record earnings in 2011 and it hoped to beat those again this year on the back of the 2012 Olympics.

Adidas said in a statement its net profit rose by 18 percent to 671 million euros ($881 million) last year, with earnings per share hitting a record high of 3.20 euros.

The Eurozone is currently going through a mild recession, the European Union's Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Tuesday.

"The euro area is currently in a mild recession," he said.

Europe's main stock markets fell further on Tuesday, after fresh losses in Asia, as investors continued to worry about China's economic outlook and the Greek debt crisis, dealers said.

In morning deals, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares dipped 0.88 percent to 5,822.78 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 slid 1.34 percent to 6,774.20 points and the Paris CAC 40 lost 1.27 percent to 3,443.35 points.

Japanese auto giant Nissan said on Tuesday that it will build a new hatchback compact car in Britain, in a £125-million investment that will create 2,000 jobs.

The new vehicle will be built at Nissan's Sunderland plant from mid-2013 in a project which will also be supported by a government grant of £9.3 million, the automaker said in a statement.

India's Tata Motors has placed a $350 million bid to buy bankrupt Swedish car maker Saab Automobile, a newspaper report said Tuesday.

"Tata's global acquisition team has been in negotiations with Saab and private equity players for a prospective acquisition by its Jaguar-Land Rover unit," the Financial Express newspaper reported, quoting an unnamed source.

Singapore Telecom said Monday that it will buy a U.S. mobile advertising start-up for $321 million to expand group revenues from phone ads and marketing across Asia.

SingTel, Southeast Asia's biggest telecom firm by revenue, said its 100 percent buyout of Amobee would boost mobile ad sales in India, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan, where it has large affiliates.

China's premier on Monday cut the economic giant's growth target to 7.5 percent for 2012 as he opened a parliament session focused on growth, stability and military might ahead of a leadership change.

Premier Wen Jiabao also said China must boost the capacity of its forces to fight wars on their own doorstep, as he delivered his opening address to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament.