European shares extended the previous session’s losses on Tuesday, with commodities-related stocks coming under renewed selling pressure after a sharp decline in metals and oil prices.
The broader market also weakened after Swiss biotech firm Actelion fell more than 6 per cent on a report saying the company was not actively considering selling itself, but instead weighing a “complicated deal” to link with Johnson &Johnson.
The European basic resources index dropped 1.7 per cent, the top sectoral decliner, as the prices of major industrial metals fell 1 to 2.2 per cent after recent strong gains. The oil and gas index also fell and was last quoted 0.8 per cent lower.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.4 per cent by 0811 GMT. It had finished 0.8 per cent lower in the previous session, weighed down by a drop in banks which were led lower by Italian lenders on continued worries over a cash call at troubled lender Monte dei Paschi.
Italy’s benchmark banking index, however, gained 0.5 per cent after recent sharp declines.