European stocks give up record highs on profit taking

European stocks fell in early trading on Wednesday, and pulled back from all-time highs on profit-taking as Wall Street's rally paused ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.2% as of 11:45 GMT, after closing higher by 0.7% yesterday and hit an all-time high at 436.5 points.

The tech sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, falling 1.5%, after a wave of strong gains.

S&P 500 futures fell more than 0.1%, after the index closed lower by 0.1% yesterday on profit-taking from its new record high of 4,086.23 points.

At 18:00 GMT, The Federal Reserve will release minutes of the last policy meeting, at which policymakers voted to maintain current interest rates near zero and the bonds purchases program at over $120 billion.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.25, France's CAC 40 fell 0.1%, and Germany's DAX index fell 0.2% on profit-taking from its record high of 15,311.9 points.

While the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.6%, after the British pound fell, which benefits exporting companies.