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Paris - European stocks fell for a fourth straight session on Wednesday, erasing what was left of the gains spurred by the European Central Bank's rate cut and additional measures unveiled last week to support the region's economy.
Investors were concerned about a rise in polls for the "Yes" camp ahead of next week's vote on Scottish independence, while rising US bond yields also weighed, lifted by increased expectations that the Federal Reserve will take a more hawkish stance on raising rates at a policy meeting next week.
Sterling hit a 10-month low against the dollar on Wednesday, with currency traders citing an online survey on the Scottish independence which gave the "Yes" camp a strong lead.
READ: Scotland fears split will affect pound
Market talk surrounded the prospect of another poll due to be released late on Wednesday by the Survation polling agency for the Daily Record. The agency said on Twitter that those results would be "very interesting".
At 12:50, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.1% at 1 383.99 points. The index has lost 1.4% since a peak hit last Thursday after the ECB announcement.
Spain's top lender Santander was the biggest loser among European blue-chips, down 1.3% after the death of its chairperson prompted worries over succession.
Emilio Botin, who transformed the firm from a small domestic lender into the eurozone's biggest bank, died of a heart attack on Tuesday night.
READ: Santander chair Emilio Botin dies
"He was perceived as the man who built Santander into a global bank," Javier Bernat Valenzuela, an analyst at Beka Finance in Madrid, said.
"He has been the person who has looked after the bank for the last 30 years but you have to realise there will not be significant changes because the bank is pretty well structured."
READ: Apple launch - as it happened
France's Gemalto featured among the top gainers across Europe, surging 4.1% after Apple introduced a new mobile payments service dubbed "Apple Pay" with its latest iPhone launch. Gemalto is a maker of smart chips for mobile phones, bank cards and biometric passports. It pioneered the use of smart cards.
"Apple is the last smartphone manufacturer finally adopting the NFC (Near Field Communications) technology but this should clearly boost the adoption of this payment technology worldwide," a Paris-based trader said.
