London - European shares fell on Wednesday, retreating back from solid gains made in the previous session, as a new fall in the price of copper caused mining stocks to lose ground.
There appeared to be limited market reaction to news that French authorities had killed two suspects after last week's attacks in Paris which killed more than 120 people. European travel and leisure stocks lost ground but were in line with the overall European market.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had risen 2.6 percent in the previous session, fell 0.7 percent while the euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index declined by 0.8 percent.
Mining stocks such as Glencore and BHP Billiton were among the worst performers as London copper prices fell towards new six-year lows on Wednesday.
Air Liquide fell 3.7 percent after the company announced an expensive-looking $13.4 billion deal to buy US peer Airgas.
The European travel and leisure sector was down 0.6 percent.
An international soccer match was called off in Germany on Tuesday while two Air France flights from the United States were diverted, with Air France KLM shares down 0.9 percent on Wednesday.
REUTERS