LONDON (Reuters) - European equities slipped early on Tuesday, extending losses from a subdued start to the week as miners came under pressure while results weighed on Pandora , IHG and Standard Life in otherwise thin summer trading.
The pan-European STOXX 600 (STOXX) index was down 0.2 percent, while blue chips (STOXX50E) also fell 0.2 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 (FTSE) was also down 0.2 percent, as was Germany's DAX (GDAXI).
Basic resources (SXPP) was a big sectoral fallers, down 0.3 percent as weaker-than-expected trade data from the world's biggest consumer of metals, China, weighed on the underlying price of copper. [MET/L]
While moves in the index were muted, earnings were behind some sizeable price action among single stocks, with jewellery maker Pandora (CO:PNDORA) slumping nearly 8 percent after second quarter results lagged estimates.
British insurer Standard Life (L:SL) declined 1.2 percent after reporting first half figures, while InterContinental Hotels Group (L:IHG) fell 3 percent after disappointing numbers for growth in revenue per room.
Finnish tyre maker Nokian (HE:NRE1V) soared 9.5 percent and was set for its best day since February 2016 after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit on improved Russian demand, and raising its forecast.
German power plant and energy trading group Uniper (DE:UN01) was also a top riser, gaining more than 3 percent after it lifted its outlook for operating profit and dividend.
So far around 70 percent of MSCI Europe companies have reported second quarter earnings, of which more than 60 percent have either met or beaten analysts’ expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The figure is around the same for euro zone firms.