London - European shares fell in early trading on Tuesday after a sharp rally in the previous session, with the market coming under pressure following a drop in mining and energy shares.
The Pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 and the STOXX Europe 600 indexes were both down 0.4 percent by 07h12 GMT after surging around 3.7 percent in the previous session.
Britain's commodity-heavy FTSE 100 index dropped 0.6 percent after a fall in the prices of industrial metals, with copper slipping 0.5 percent on concerns about global oversupply.
The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources index, which surged more than 4 percent in the previous session, was down 1 percent, the biggest sectoral decliner. The European energy index fell 0.5 percent, tracking weaker oil prices.
Miners Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto fell 1.5 to 2.1 percent.
Kion shares dropped 5.8 percent, the biggest faller in the broader STOXX 600 index, after the German forklift truck maker agreed to buy Dematic in a deal valuing the logistics technology company at $3.25 billion.
Investors remained cautious over buying stocks ahead of this week's referendum in Britain. Two opinion polls on Monday suggested support for Britain staying in the European Union had recovered some ground following the murder of a pro-EU lawmaker, but a third found support for a “Brexit” ahead by a whisker.
REUTERS