Europe stocks fall as China COVID surge weighs on oil majors, miners

European stock markets fell on Tuesday, with commodity-linked shares hit by concerns about surging coronavirus cases in China, while nerves ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting this week added to the gloom.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 1.3% by 0813 GMT, with miners, travel & leisure and oil & gas posting losses between 1.4% and 3.2%.

Crude prices shed almost 5% and industrial metals fell on concerns over the economic fallout from surging COVID-19 cases in key consumer China.


Sweden's H&M, the world's second-biggest fashion retailer, slipped 3.2% after reporting a rise in quarterly sales that was in line with expectations.

Tobacco and nicotine products maker Swedish Match slid 6.0% after it said it had decided to pause plans to spin off and list its U.S. cigar business.

Dutch tech investor Prosus, which has a stake in China's Tencent, fell another 7.2% amid continued weakness in Chinese tech shares.