Europe drops off record highs on fears about China virus

European stocks fell on Tuesday, to head for the second daily loss, as profit-taking from all-time highs continued, in addition to risk aversion as fears mounted over the spread of a SARS-like virus in China.

Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.6% as of 11:50 GMT, after it closed lower by 0.1% yesterday, to post its first daily loss in five days, on profit-taking from all-time highs hit in the previous session at 424.90 points.

The index opened today's session lower, to head for the second daily loss on profit-taking, as most of the major European exchanges and sectors fell today.

The mining sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, with a with a drop by more than 1.8%, amid fears in China (the world's largest consumer of metals).

Most Asian stocks fell today, due to mounting concerns of a virus spreading in China with symptoms similar to the pneumonia virus, and similar to the SARS virus outbreak that resulted in killing 800 people in 2002/03.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.5% today, after an official holiday yesterday in the US, while the index closed higher by 0.4% on Friday at Wall Street, and hit a record of 3,329.88 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index lost 0.6%, France's CAC 40 fell by 0.8%, Germany's DAX fell by 0.25%, and In London, the FTSE 100 index saw the largest loss with a drop by 1%.