European stocks extend slide as French unrest rattles investors

European shares ended just a touch lower on ​Tuesday, as violent protests in France kept risk appetite in check and hammered equities in ‌the euro zone's second-biggest economy.

The protests, which have intensified pressure on a country already grappling with soft economic growth and ballooning government debt, sent France's benchmark CAC 40 index  0.38% lower.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index  dipped 0.14% to 638.64 points after slipping ​0.8% in the previous session.

Investors weary of elevated oil prices and high government bond yields have ​relied on robust earnings to pluck the STOXX 600 out of the narrow range ⁠it has been stuck in over the past month.

"You can have a lot of headwinds but earnings growth ​can still drive the day. The current season has been one of the best quarters for earnings per ​share growth in Europe in many years," said Burns McKinney, managing director and senior portfolio manager at NFJ Investment Group.

But the turmoil in France has added another risk, especially as presidential elections are due in six months.

"It's tough for investors to get ​particularly emboldened by Europe now," said Neil Wilson, investor strategist at Saxo UK.

"How much exposure do you want ​to Europe right now when you're not really sure what sort of policies are going to be pursued by government over ‌the ⁠next few years, and France being the focal point for that?"

Several major European sectors were trading lower, with industrials  leading declines, dragged down by ABB's  5% drop as nervousness about the sustainability of AI investments weighed on the Swiss engineering company, which is a major supplier to data centres.

French cloud operator OVHcloud  jumped 18% to a ​near one-month high after reporting ​its first positive levered free ⁠cash flow since its 2021 listing.

Comet Holding  jumped 4.7% following an increase in the electronic equipment maker's third-quarter sales due to expansion of data centres and AI infrastructure.