LONDON: European shares fell early on Thursday, giving up a little of the recent strong gains, with mining stocks among the biggest casualties after Chinese trade data was weaker than expected.
The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources Index fell 1.3 percent after top metals consumer China said its trade surplus narrowed for a second straight month in September, as both imports and exports were lower than expected, reflecting global economic weakness and domestic cooling that will deepen policy quandaries facing Beijing.
"China is lower and slower. You can hear the balloon slowly losing its air. But that's OK. We know it's slowing. There's no reason to panic," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management.
"But in Europe, maybe the political decisions are finally coming through. Markets have been taking strength, as the underlying value is still there."
At 0705 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.4 percent at 973.61 points, after rising 1.6 percent in the previous session to its highest close in more than nine weeks, buoyed by better-than-expected euro zone output data.
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