The DJ Stoxx European insurance index was the only sector in negative territory at 1154 GMT, down 0.2 percent, having been down as much as 2.2 percent earlier in the morning. The DJ STOXX index was up 1.1 percent.
Old Mutual shares were down 1.8 percent, while AXA, Allianz, Zurich Financial Services, and Swiss Re -- companies seen as having large exposure to U.S. structured credit products -- all slipped around 1 percent.
Investors were also unnerved by market talk of write-downs of between 6 billion and 8 billion euros at ING.