The Germanwings air disaster in the French Alps has “caused” a four per cent slump in its parent company Lufthansa’s shares, before recovering to a loss of 1.56 per cent.

The stock was the worst performer on the Frankfurt stock exchange in an otherwise buoyant market in Germany and France.

The Germanwings Airbus A320 flight 4U 9525 crashed 41 minutes after takeoff in Barcelona after a steep eight-minute descent into the French Alps. All 150 people on board including two Australians, 16 German schoolchildren and two infants were reported killed.

• Australians killed in Germanwings plane crash

News of the crash sent shares in Lufthansa sinking more than four percent, but they recovered to end the day down 1.56 percent at 13.57 euros, still the worst performer on the Frankfurt stock market.

“News that a Germanwings plane has crashed in the south of France caused a fall in (the share price of) Lufthansa … alongside Airbus, the plane’s manufacturer,” said Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex trading group.

Shares in European planemaker Airbus initially sank more than 2 percent in Paris, but ended the day with a gain of 0.52 percent at 60.31 euros.

Eurozone markets mostly pushed higher Tuesday on encouraging economic signals.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index climbed 0.92 percent to 12,005.69 points, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.67 percent to 5,088.28 points.