European shares traded lower on Tuesday, pausing after a sharp rise in the previous session, with concerns about Greece growing as the country's parties struggled to form a new government.
Greece's mainstream conservatives failed to reach a deal for a coalition following Sunday's election, leaving it to the Left Coalition party to form a government, which would be opposed to the country's EU/IMF bailout.
“People are looking for the next worry, which is that the Greeks will talk for six hours and come to no agreement,” Justin Haque, a pan-European trader at Hobart Capital Markets said. “If the IMF stops paying Greece, that's a country in starvation.”
The FTSEurofirst 300 was down 0.3 percent to 1,031.92 points while the Euro STOXX 50 index shed 0.7 percent to 2,267.57 points.
Deutsche Boerse said it was having technical problems with its Xetra trading system, delaying the start of trading of German stocks until further notice.
Dutch telecoms group KPN rose 18 percent after America Movil, the telecoms giant controlled by Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, said it planned to acquire up to 28 percent of it. - Reuters