London--Europe's main stock markets closed down on Wednesday as traders awaited an update on the outlook for US interest rates.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index slid 0.35 percent on the day to 6,937.41 points after earlier showing gains on the back of news that Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to a huge takeover of BG Group.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 index lost 0.72 percent to 12,035.86 points, while the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.28 percent to 5,136.86 points.
Traders were looking ahead to the 1800 GMT release of minutes of the last interest rate meeting of the US Federal Reserve, with dealers set to pore over them for clues as to when the US central bank plans to announce a hike in borrowing costs.
News of the Shell-BG merger initially boosted the FTSE, with investors "driven no doubt by the idea that the heavily energy-directed index could see yet more merger and acquisition activity off the back of the recent fall in oil prices," said Joshua Mahoney, analyst at IG trading group.
"However, this news appears to have hidden the largely mixed sentiment seen throughout the European markets (ahead of) a crucial deadline for Greece," he said.
US stocks were trading higher following news of Shell's $70 billion (64 billion euro) takeover of BG as the market awaited the kickoff of earnings season.
At midday trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.27 percent while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.84 percent and the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.36 percent.
Shares in BG Group soared 26.65 percent to 1,153.00 pence, while Royal Dutch Shell 'B' shares plunged 8.56 percent to 2,019.50 pence, with some analysts saying the offer price may turn out to be too large.
AFP
