European shares fall in early trading

London - European shares fell on Tuesday, with Commerzbank dropping after announcing plans to raise €1.4bn and Swiss sanitary equipment maker Geberit slipping following poor results.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.5% at 1 634.21 points by 09:11 after gaining about 1% in the previous session.

Shares in Commerzbank fell 5%, the top decliner in the FTSEurofirst 300 index, as Germany's second-largest bank on Monday launched a share sale to raise capital from institutional investors to help to bolster its capital strength.

Geberit shares fell 4.4% after the company reported a 15% fall in first-quarter net profit due to costs relating to its acquisition last year of Nordics ceramic maker Sanitec and a surge in the Swiss franc.