Europe: Shares slip on earnings-day disappointment

[LONDON] European stock markets lost ground on Tuesday, with French bank Credit Agricole and German carmaker BMW among the worst performers after reporting results, while weak oil prices also weighed on energy stocks.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had risen 0.7 per cent on Monday, edged back by 0.3 per cent while the eurozone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index also weakened by 0.5 per cent.

Credit Agricole slumped 8 per cent after it booked an additional 350 million euros in litigation provisions while posting second quarter results.

BMW also fell 2.7 per cent after its second quarter operating profit eased 3 per cent on slowing China sales, leading the carmaker to caution that while it still expects new records for sales and pretax profit in the full year, earnings momentum was slowing.

REUTERS