Frankfurt remained a hostage to the fortunes of the technology sectors, which gave back a large part of Monday's gains and pushed the Xetra Dax index down 64.45 to 7,807.93.
Siemens fell €5.24 to €170 while Epcos, spun off by Siemens last October at €31, lost €10.90 at €129, and SAP dropped €59.80 to €910. Flanked by a €2.31 to €88.99 slide at Deutsche Telekom, the performances set the tone for the day.
There was little relief either for the so-called old economy stocks. BASF shed 70 cents at €48.70 as brokers took a lukewarm view of the chemical group's latest US deal.
The tech-laden Neuer Markt fell 4.6 per cent to extend losses over the past seven sessions to 11 per cent.
The FTSE Eurobloc 100 index dipped 0.1 per cent to 1,467.35 and the FTSE Eurotop 100 index ended virtually all square at 3,820.50. The FTSE Eurotop 300 index eased 0.1 per cent to 1,625.80.
Paris also succumbed to profit-taking in technology shares, with France Telecom off €6.90 at €185.30 and Equant €3 lower at €105, although in each instance volumes were limited. STMicroelectronics rose €5.40 to €207.30 as investors warmed to Monday's upbeat trading statement, but trading was dominated by a further wave of sector rotation. The CAC-40 index ended off 31.64 at 6,320.87.
Amsterdam ended 0.95 better at 672.60 on the AEX index. Unilever, which stood at €75.50 in January, jumped 9.2 per cent or €4.19 to €49.90 while retailer Ahold rose €1.15 to €25.89 following an upgrade at HSBC.
Milan lost ground as Internet and telecoms-related stocks were bruised by the overnight fall in the Nasdaq. The Mibtel index finished 452 lower at 32,785.
Madrid was lower in thin trade as the market braced itself for higher US interest rates. The Ibex-35 index closed with a loss of 54.1 at 12,308.3.
