LONDON, March 21: European stock markets fell on Tuesday, weighed down by losses to heavyweight energy groups and miners and after a mixed showing by Wall Street overnight, dealers said. London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares dropped 0.26 per cent to 5,975.90 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 shed 0.36 per cent to 5,881.82 points and in Paris the CAC 40 declined also by 0.36 per cent to 5,119.85 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares decreased 0.31 per cent to 3,830.30 points.

The euro stood at 1.2142 dollars.

The FTSE 100 has recoiled slightly since takeover news had pushed it through the 6,000-points barrier last Friday for the first time in five years.

US stocks had closed mixed on Monday, ahead of a major speech by new Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that failed to indicate a pause in its current cycle of interest rate hikes.

Tokyo’s stock market, which had hit a six-week high point on Monday, was shut Tuesday owing to a public holiday in Japan.

In Europe on Tuesday, oil majors dropped as New York crude futures eased back to around 60 dollars per barrel.

The share price of BP fell 0.84 per cent to 652 pence in London and French peer Total lost 1.17 per cent to 210.6 euros in Paris.

Mining stocks meanwhile took a hammering as investors banked profits after commodity prices fell back from recent record high points.

In London, Xstrata dropped 2.17 per cent to 1,761 pence, Rio Tinto gave up 0.91 per cent to 2,715 pence and BHP Billiton slid 1.38 per cent to 963 pence.

However Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus jumped 7.10 per cent to 90.5 pence after the Financial Times said the group had held talks with Evraz, Russia’s largest steelmaker, over a possible merger.

Back in Paris, Electricite de France (EDF) dropped 0.70 per cent to 42.67 euros, hit by profit-taking and a wider slide for French utility stocks, dealers said.

The EDF share price has surged by more than 30.0 per cent since the group was floated on the Paris stock exchange in November.

In New York on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.05 per cent at 11,274.53 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 0.33 per cent to 2,314.11 points, while the broad-market Standard and Poor’s 500 index lost 0.17 per cent to 1,305.08.

The New York market closed out with solid gains last week thanks to rising optimism that the economy is cooling enough to keep inflation contained, easing pressure on interest rates.

In Asia on Tuesday, Hong Kong’s key Hang Seng Index closed fractionally lower at 15,922.75 points.—AFP