BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Laurence Fink said beaten-down European equities and stocks that pay dividends are still a good bet during current tumultuous markets.

At the same time, it might be prudent for investors to avoid low-yielding U.S. debt and some European debt as Europe battles its worsening debt crisis, the head of the world's largest asset management firm said on Wednesday.

Fink said tough steps are necessary in Europe but he is confident moves will be made to prevent the common currency union from collapsing.

We are going to find a solution in Europe, and Germany will have to play a major role, he said in New York at the Delivering Alpha conference sponsored by CNBC and Institutional Investor.

However, there will be uncertainty for some time, and it might make more sense to invest in stocks instead of bonds, he said. You could still be buying European equities, Fink said. The companies have been beaten down and they will be fine.

At a Barclays Capital conference on Tuesday, Fink recommended some beaten-down European blue chip stocks like conglomerate Siemens AG , insurance giant Allianz and food maker Nestle .

At the Delivering Alpha conference, he said the U.S. housing sector is still weighing on economic growth, but he forecast the sector would recover in a few years.

The housing picture is improving but it will still take two or three years to fix, he said.

In the precious metals area, Fink said gold stocks could still be profitable, particularly as they have not yet fully reflected the rally in the metal's price.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; edited by Aaron Pressman and John Wallace)

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