Eurozone stocks down 0.03 per cent and blue chips 0.01 per cent

For European bourses, there was no wind of optimism from Asia where stocks suffered as rising diplomatic tensions between Riyadh and the West over the disappearance of a journalist pushed oil higher.

European shares failed to rebound on Monday after their worst week since a correction in February as a flurry of threats such as trade wars, rising U.S. yields, a slowdown in China, Brexit and the Italy/EU budget row continued to weigh on markets.

For European bourses, there was no wind of optimism from Asia where stocks suffered as rising diplomatic tensions between Riyadh and the West over the disappearance of a journalist pushed oil higher.

At 0721 GMT, Eurozone stocks were down 0.03 per cent and blue chips down 0.01 per cent.

Noting that Wall Street had managed to stage a rebound on Friday, ING analysts stressed that risks were still on the upside.

"Just as you shouldn't breathe too big a sigh of relief after earth tremors end, we remain anxious of a market that seems jittery, even against the backdrop of a very strong U.S. economy", the bank's analysts told its clients.

British ConvaTec was the worst performer on the STOXX 600 down 28 per cent, after cutting its forecast and announcing its CEO was stepping down.

Among winners in the early trading session was Chr Hansen, up 4.6 per cent with better-than-expected results.  

(With inputs from agencies.)