Europe: Shares fall back from seven-week highs as Schindler slips

[LONDON] European shares pulled back from seven-week highs on Tuesday, weighed down by industrial stocks, after Swiss firm Schindler lowered its outlook for 2016.

The STOXX Europe 600 index fell 0.8 per cent, slipping back from its highest level since the "Brexit" vote in late June that saw Britain vote to leave the European Union, with the index still down 6 per cent so far in 2016.

Schindler Holding declined 4.4 per cent, the biggest faller on the STOXX index after it cut the top end of its revenue growth outlook for the year as increasing uncertainty in the Chinese construction market and the recession in Brazil continued to hurt the Swiss elevator manufacturer.

However, shares in Linde surged 11.1 per cent after the company confirmed merger talks with US industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc to create a market leader with a value of more than US$60 billion.

Mining stocks also outperformed, with Antofagasta climbing 8.7 per cent after the company cheered investors with a slim rise in mid-year profits.

REUTERS