European stocks slip as Middle East uncertainty makes for caution

Europe's benchmark equities index slipped on Tuesday, as doubts over a potential Middle East peace deal kept markets on edge ahead of the US midterm elections, while investors also assessed a slew of earnings.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.58% lower at 645.66 points, with mining shares leading declines on weaker copper prices.

Iran and the United States are still far from a deal to end their war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters. Overnight, the United States carried out what it called defensive strikes on Iran's Qeshm island.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group, said there was a willingness across European markets to buy on dips amid hope that a deal could help drive oil prices lower, but the lack of clear progress, coupled with the US election, was keeping investors cautious.

Brent crude swung between gains and losses and was last down 1.2%, but above $100 a barrel.

On the earnings front, the German online fashion retailer Zalando fell 6.6%, the biggest faller on the STOXX index, after weaker gross margin and net loss outweighed slightly-better-than-expected sales. The broader retail sector declined 2%.

The technology sector  lost nearly 1%, with AI heavyweight ASML declining 1.6%.

The weakness mirrored losses in Asian tech benchmarks earlier in the day as investors reassessed the sustainability of the AI-driven rally following disappointing results from US cloud computing companies in the previous week.