London - European shares slipped in early trading on Tuesday, with Swedish industrial rubber maker Trelleborg leading the market lower after its results, while weaker metals prices weighed on miners.
Trelleborg fell 3.8 percent, the top decliner in the STOXX Europe 600 index.
Trelleborg met core earnings estimates but said Britain's plan to leave the European Union had raised economic uncertainty. Trelleborg also issued a cautious market outlook.
K+S also fell 2.8 percent after the company said late on Monday that an equipment collapse at a new Canadian potash mine owned by K+S resulted in “consequential damage”, fuelling speculation that the opening of the project could be delayed.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index and the FTSEurofirst 300 both fell 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent respectively by 07h30 GMT after closing slightly higher in the previous session.
Miners also lost ground, with the STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources index down 1.5 percent, the top sectoral decliner, following a fall in metals prices. Shares in Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Anglo American were down 1.7 to 3.3 percent.
On the positive side, Zalando surged 17 percent as Europe's biggest dedicated online fashion retailer raised its forecast for full-year profitability after reporting a jump in preliminary sales for the second quarter.
REUTERS