Europe: Shares open lower, Glencore halts slide

[LONDON] European shares fell for the second day in a row on Tuesday as weakness in the commodities sector hit markets, though battered miner Glencore halted its slide after a bruising sell-off on Monday.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index and the euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index both fell 1.6 per cent, following on from losses of more than 2 per cent on both indexes on Monday.

Miner and commodity trader Glencore recovered slightly on Tuesday to rise 5.2 per cent after a 29-per cent plunge on Monday. Analysts at Citigroup and Bernstein said the sell-off in Glencore had been overdone and that there was value in the business.

Carmaker Volkswagen weakened by 4.2 per cent, with Hungary's Economy Minister Mihaly Varga saying on Tuesday that about 2 million of the 11 million diesel engines involved in the Volkswagen emissions scandal were manufactured at an Audi plant in western Hungary.

Concerns over a slowdown in China have hit commodity prices and mining stocks.

REUTERS