LONDON - European shares broke a four-session rally on Wednesday as concerns over the euro zone's huge refinancing needs lead investors to cash in on recent gains.
Banking stocks, many of which are heavily exposed to euro zone debt, fell 0.9 percent ahead of a German debt auction later in the session.
"It’s all down to the bond market and it’s all down to the sovereigns," said David Moss, a director and senior fund manager at F&C Asset Management’s European Equities team, which has around 2.7 billion euros under management.
"We’ve seen some encouraging comments and actions from (prime ministers Mario) Monti in Italy and (Mariano) Rajoy in Spain. If they carry on on the tone they started and the bond markets are happy, then we can carry on."
At 0805 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.3 percent at 1024.71 points after hitting a five-month high on Tuesday, when strong manufacturing data from the United States and China helped divert market attention from euro woes.
