Europe's three benchmark indices closed narrowly mixed after a decline in Chinese exports in the month of May fueled concerns that the country could be seeing a slowdown in growth, which could affect the global mining sector.
As the world's second largest economy, fluctuations in China's import and export sectors can have ramifications for industries across the globe.
Exports from China slid 15% in the month of March compared to the same month one year earlier. China's gross domestic product expanded by 7.4% in 2014, the slowest pace of growth registered for more than two decades. The country is scheduled to release its first quarter economic growth data on Wednesday.
Basic resources stocks also were under pressure after Citigroup downgraded the iron-ore sector to neutral from bullish, in line with major forecast revisions by Citi's commodity team.
BHP ( BHP ) was cut to neutral from buy and moved it off its European focus list. Citi also cut its rating on miner Anglo American PLC to sell from neutral.
Separately, Standard & Poor's cut its iron-ore price forecasts for 2015, 2016 and 2017, and placed several iron-ore producers on watch for possible ratings downgrades.
The FTSE 100 rose 0.7%, the DAX fell 0.29% and the CAC-40 added 0.26%.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
