LONDON: European equities retreated Tuesday, with London hit by poorly-received results from British retailer Marks & Spencer and mobile phone giant Vodafone.
London's FTSE 100 index of top companies dropped 0.62 percent to close at 6,802 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 slid 0.21 percent to 9,639.08 points, and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.39 percent to 4,452.35 points.
Milan added 0.3 percent and Madrid climbed 0.27 percent.
"Dominating the headlines ... were Vodafone and M&S, which both saw falls in their share prices," analyst Chris Beauchamp at trading firm IG said of the London market.
Vodafone's shares topped the FTSE 100 fallers board, slumping 5.5 percent to close at 205.30 pence despite surging annual net profits, as the group forecast that earnings would slide in 2014/2015.
"Those (investors) looking for capital growth will be disappointed that the company expects a drop in earnings for the coming year," added Beauchamp.
Marks & Spencer's share price shed 1.1 percent to 446 pence, after announcing that underlying profits before tax slid 3.9 percent to £623 million in the 52 weeks to March 29, from a year earlier.
That marked the third successive drop in underlying annual profits. The group, involved in a big investment and rejuvenation programme, did well with its food lines but the clothing sector struggled.
"Today's announcement has once again prompted shareholders to ask questions about the pace of the latest turnaround strategy," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
Shares in Credit Suisse meanwhile climbed a day after the Swiss banking giant was fined $2.6 billion by US authorities after pleading guilty to helping Americans avoid taxes.
After skyrocketing at the open, Credit Suisse shares closed the day up 0.88 percent at 26.30 Swiss francs on the Swiss stock exchange's SMI index, which slid 0.12 percent overall.
Meanwhile AstraZeneca's share price recovered somewhat after having plunged a day earlier when the drugmaker rejected a 'final' $117-billion takeover bid from US rival Pfizer.
The British drugmaker argued that the £55-per-share offer undervalued it, forcing Pfizer to walk away.
Its shares climbed 0.49 percent on Tuesday to 4,308.50 pence, having plummeted by 11.11 percent on Monday.
Sterling bounces on data:
In foreign exchange activity, the euro slid to $1.3700 from $1.3709 late in New York on Monday.
The pound hit a multi-month high against the euro and rose against the dollar, as official data showed Britain's 12-month inflation rate accelerated to 1.8 percent last month, from 1.6 percent in March.
The European single currency sank to 81.19 pence a level last seen in January 2013. It later stood at 81.32 pence, down from 81.52 pence on Monday.
The British pound also climbed to $1.6847 from $1.6813. However, the data also revealed that the rising British inflation rate was likely due to this year's timing of Easter, which fell in April instead of March.
That persuaded many transport companies to increase their prices to capitalise on a peak-time for holiday-goers.
"Once the detail of today's numbers was digested sterling's initial gains were eroded," said Investec economist Victoria Geoghegan.
"Easter effects aside the latest release provides little evidence of significant or broad based price pressures," she added.
Elsewhere, the price of gold slid to $1,295.50 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,302 on Tuesday.
In Asia on Tuesday, markets mostly rose following gains on Wall Street, but Thailand's main index slipped after the army declared martial law following months of deadly anti-government protests.
Tokyo rose 0.49 percent, Shanghai won 0.15 percent and Hong Kong added 0.57 percent, but Bangkok fell 1.13 percent.
US stocks also moved lower Tuesday following a mixed batch of quarterly earnings reports from retailers.
In midday trading the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.29 percent to 16,463.66 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.22 percent to 1,880.84, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.28 percent to 4,114.22.
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