European shares fell in early trading on Monday, trimming some of the previous session’s sharp gains, following soft macro data from China and Japan, while Italian shares dropped after S&P downgraded the country’s credit rating.
Milan’s MIB index was down 0.7 per cent, with Banco Popolare down 1.3 per cent and BMPS down 0.9 per cent.
S&P had on Friday cut the country’s sovereign credit rating from BBB to BBB-, just one notch above junk, citing weak growth and poor competitiveness which undermine the sustainability of its huge public debt.
At 0806 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.4 per cent at 1,399.68 points, after surging 1.8 per cent on Friday.