LONDON: European equities suffered one of their worst days so far this year on Wednesday, pulled down by weaker-than-expected corporate results, a euro rebound and disappointing U.S. growth data.
Lacklustre U.S. data propelled the euro to an eight-week high against the dollar, which in turn hurt Germany's exporter-heavy DAX index.
The DAX, which reached a record high of 12,390.75 points earlier this month, fell 3.2 percent to 11,432.72 points, its worst one-day percentage drop since March 2014.
"The DAX, an export-driven index, is seeing this euro rally feeding straight through into concerns that it will dampen the export ability of the companies," said Lorne Baring, managing director at B Capital Wealth Management.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had reached its highest point in more than 14 years earlier this month, fell 2.2 percent to 1,581.94 points.
The FTSEurofirst was at its lowest level in around a month and had its worst one-day fall since a 2.3 percent drop in January, although it remains up 16 percent in 2015.
Belgian supermarket group Delhaize slid 8.3 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 7.5 percent after posting operating earnings just short of forecasts and cutting its estimate for global primary aluminium demand growth.
Athens' benchmark ATG equity index fell 1 percent. The ATG is down by around 3 percent since the start of 2015.
Euro zone officials sought to wring policy concessions from Greece on Wednesday to unlock urgently needed aid, after Athens said it would present a list of reforms to show it is serious about implementing its promises.
The draft was not expected to include major novelties beyond measures already discussed with EU and IMF lenders, but Athens is hoping it will speed up slow-moving talks and permit at least an initial deal to ease its cash crunch.
New economic stimulus measures from the European Central Bank have helped to cushion any negative fallout from Greece.
Record-low interest rates set by the ECB, coupled with its plans to buy back government bonds, have pushed investors towards the better returns available from stocks compared with bonds and cash.
Data from Thomson Reuters StarMine has also 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.
Nevertheless, some traders said now might be a good time to cash in profits on the rally so far this year.
"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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