European shares extended losses to a second session on Tuesday, hit by worries about an energy supply crunch, while rising Covid-19 cases in China exacerbated global recession concerns.

Losses were broad-based with healthcare, technology and luxury stocks weighing the most. Oil stocks eked out small gains.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.6 per cent by 0727 GMT, after ending down 0.5 per cent on Monday.

Miners fell 1.2 per cent, as several Chinese cities imposed fresh Covid-19 curbs to rein in new infections, in what could be another hit to economic growth in the world’s second-biggest economy and top metal consumer.

Meanwhile, a maintenance shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany is expected to end on July 21st, but worries are high that it may get extended due to the Russia-Ukraine war, affecting the region’s energy supplies.

Among individual stocks, power giant EDF jumped 6.1 per cent to top the STOXX 600, after sources said the French government is poised to pay more than €8 billion to bring the company back under full state control.

Swedish cloud communications company Sinch slumped 23. per cent, extending declines after a short-seller report from Ningi Research. - Reuters

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