European markets saw losses on Tuesday, led by declines in banks that are still beset by problems in the credit market.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 1.28 percent lower to 1,493.85.
In Frankfurt the Dax dropped 0.66 percent to 7,425.07, while the WIBEX was down 1.21 percent to 14,553.1 in Madrid and the Paris CAC-40 fell 1.63 percent to 5,478.66.
The banking sector was led lower as UBS (SWX: UBSN; NYSE: UBS;j TYO: 8657) warned that earnings by investment banks would be affected by recent market volatility in the second half.
While the Swiss bank reported better than anticipated results in the second quarter, it said that if current conditions persist its second half could be weak.
After its warning, UBS dropped 3.9 percent to SFr63.50.
Banks were the three biggest losers of the session on the CAC-40.
Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) fell 2.77 percent to €27.03, while BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) was 3.48 percent lower to €78.18 and Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) dropped 4.59 percent to €119.00.
Spanish bank Banco Santander (IBEX-35: SAN; LSE: BNC; NYSE: STD) was 1.7 percent lower to €13.52.
In Frankfurt, meanwhile, Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) was down 1.47 percent to €29.37, while Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NSYE: DB) fell 2.9 percent to €94.33.
The biggest loser on the Dax, however, was Fresenius Medical Care (FWB: FREG), which was down 2.99 percent to €35.12.
Steelmaker ThyssenKrupp (FWB: TK; LSE: THK) was the best performer on the Dax as it added 2.22 percent to €40.34 on an upgrade from “neutral” to “outperform” from Credit Suisse (SWX: CSGN; NYSE: CS), which also raised the steel group’s target share price from €42 to €47.
There were only four gainers on the day on the CAC-40, with hotels operator Accor (Euronext: AC) leading the way with a gain of 0.69 percent to €59.44.
The semiconductors sector was higher, with STMicroelectronics (Euronext: STM; NYSE: STM) 0.16 percent higher to €12.60 and Infineon (FWB: IFX; NYSE: IFX) up 0.45 percent to €11.17.