European Stocks Fall As Resource Shares Extend Slide

(RTTNews) - The European markets edged lower on Tuesday, dragged down by energy and mining stocks as investors continued to fret about slowing growth in China.

Oil prices fell about 4 percent on Monday, pressured in part by comments from Iran's energy minister that he foresaw no change in OPEC's output strategy despite weakening demand.

Iron ore futures in China and Singapore rose today, but with demand weakening and production costs rising, analysts expect more downsides for iron ore.

The StoxxEurope600 index is currently down about 0.7 percent. After rising 0.6 percent on Monday, the German DAX is declining 0.6 percent. France's CAC 40 is losing 0.8 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 is down 0.4 percent.

As risk appetite wanes, investors are looking ahead to this week's ECB meeting, which some investors believe could open the door for more easing to boost inflation in the euro zone.

Glencore shares are down 2.6 percent in London, BHP Billiton is down 2.3 percent and Rio Tinto is declining 1.6 percent. Total SA shares are down 1.6 percent in Paris.

Volkswagen shares are moving down 0.8 percent in Frankfurt. A recent survey by market-research firm Prophet found that two-thirds of Germans still believe Volkswagen builds "outstanding" cars despite the massive emissions-test cheating scandal.

Deutsche Bank shares are down 1.8 percent. The German lender paid $6 billion to a U.S. hedge fund client by mistake in a "fat finger" trade on its foreign exchange desk this summer, the Financial Times reported.

SAP is rising 0.2 percent. The business software maker said its newer Internet-based cloud business could top full-year targets in the fourth quarter.

U.K. hotel and catering group Whitbread is gaining 2 percent after its profit rose 14 percent in the first half, beating expectations.

In economic news, German producer prices fell at the fastest pace in seven months pulled lower by falling oil prices, preliminary data from Destatis revealed.

Separately, data released by the European Central Bank showed that Eurozone's current account surplus narrowed to an unadjusted 17.7 billion euros in August from 25.6 billion euros in July.

Elsewhere, Asian stocks had a mixed outing as lower commodity prices on worries about China's slowing growth and a flat lead from Wall Street kept many investors in a defensive mode.

U.S. stock futures point to a tepid start after stocks finished a choppy session slightly higher overnight.