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London - Weak German economic data and tepid corporate results pegged back European shares on Wednesday, although supportive comments from European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi limited losses.
German business sentiment dropped for a fifth straight month in September to its lowest level since April 2013, suggesting that expectations for a strong third-quarter rebound in Europe's largest economy may need to be revisited.
The Ifo data added to a recent series of worse-than-expected economic indicators from euro zone countries, including France, which has put pressure on the ECB to launch new measures to buoy the euro zone.
Bigger picture
Draghi said in a radio interview that the ECB would keep monetary policy loose for as long as it takes to push up inflation in the economic bloc from near zero towards the level of just under 2% targeted by the ECB.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index remained in negative territory after the Ifo data, down by 0.1% at 1 374.19 points, while Germany's DAX also slipped by 0.1% to 9 588.92 points.
"The whole bigger picture is that Europe is not looking that good," Central Markets investment management head of trading, Darren Courtney-Cook, said. The DAX could fall to 9 000 points within the next few sessions, he said.
"I'm strongly bearish coming into Q3. We've had a big push up, but people are now taking some chips off the table," he added.
Weak corporate updates also highlighted Europe's economic woes.
Dutch logistics company TNT Express tumbled roughly 10% after warning that low growth in Europe would hit margins in the third quarter. It also announced it was setting aside €50m to settle an anti-competitiveness investigation by French authorities.
Economic data
Traders said that air strikes by the United States and its Arab allies against militant groups in Syria were giving investors a further reason to trim equity positions and cash in on the rally.
The FTSEurofirst 300 hit a peak of 1 410.93 points this month - its highest level since early 2008 - and the index remains up by about 4% since the start of 2014.
Saxo Bank trader Andrea Tueni said he expected investors to continue to consolidate those gains in the near term, while there were still signs of lukewarm economic data from Europe and China.
"Following the string of sluggish macro data from Europe and China that we had this week, the stock market consolidation is probably not over yet," he said.
