LONDON: Weaker-than-expected corporate results, a euro rebound and disappointing U.S. growth data combined on Wednesday to weaken European shares.
Lacklustre U.S. data propelled the euro up to an 8-week high against the dollar, which in turn hit Germany's exporter-heavy DAX. The index fell as much as 3.1 percent, putting it on track for its worst one-day percentage drop since March 2014.
The DAX, which touched a record high of 12,390.75 points earlier this month, was trading at 11,456.40 points at 1422 GMT.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had also reached its highest point in more than 14 years earlier this month, fell 2.2 percent to 1,583.24 points.
Belgian supermarket group Delhaize slid 7.9 percent, the worst performer on the FTSEurofirst, after reporting lower-than-expected operating profits.
Norsk Hydro, one of the world's largest aluminium producers, also fell 7 percent after posting operating earnings just short of forecasts and cutting its estimate for global primary aluminium demand growth.
Gainers included Telecom Italia, which rose 0.3 percent after Italian paper Corriere della Sera wrote that Vivendi chief Vincent Bollore aims to strengthen the company's stake in Telecom Italia and to later strike an alliance with Mediaset.
Athens' benchmark ATG equity index fell 1.0 percent. The ATG is down by around 3 percent since the start of 2015, underperforming a 17 percent rise on the FTSEurofirst 300.
Government officials said Greece was to present draft reform legislation to lenders on Wednesday to try to show it is serious about acting on pledges to secure aid.
The draft bill is its latest move to speed up negotiations in the hopes of reaching a deal with European and IMF creditors before Greece runs out of cash.
Despite Wednesday's fall, data from Thomson Reuters StarMine has shown that 64 percent of the companies in the pan-European STOXX 600 index have beaten or met market forecasts with their first quarter results.
"If corporate results are good you can continue to see positive openings and some stocks will perform very well, but the move (downwards) yesterday suggests people are taking risk off the table and that can continue at least this week," said Mike Reuter, a broker at Tradition.
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