European stocks fall for second straight session on rising coronavirus cases

European stocks fell on Friday, to head for the second straight daily loss, as profit-taking from the 2-week high continued, in addition to risk-aversion after the World Health Organization warned from rising coronavirus infections in Europe.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.1% as of 09:25 GMT, after it lost 0.5% yesterday, on profit-taking from a 2-week high of 373.15 points. 

The pan European index fell today as the week wraps up, to head for its second straight loss, with most of the major European markets and sectors seeing red.

The travel and leisure sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, dropping about 1.5%, after the negative news about the coronavirus pandemic, whilst the mining and basic materials sector rose over 1%.

The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday warned that accelerated transmission has led to very significant resurgence of new coronavirus cases across Europe, which led to re-imposing the lockdown restrictions in some regions.

S&P 500 futures fell more than 0.2%, after the index closed lower by 0.8% yesterday at Wall Street, and posted its second loss.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.2%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.3%, and Germany's DAX fell 0.4%, while the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.