On Tuesday, European stocks opened with a sharp decline as weak Chinese trade data triggered fears of a slowdown in the second largest economy in the world, while investors remained cautious ahead of the outcome of the European Central Bank meeting this week.
During European morning trade, EURO STOXX 50 eased 1.41%, France's CAC 40 lost 1.55%, while Germany's DAX 30 fell 1.45%.
Earlier, data showed that China's trade surplus narrowed in February to $ 32.59 billion from $ 63.29 billion in the previous month, while there was expected a decline to $ 50.15 billion.
China's exports fell last month by 25.4%, while imports fell by 13.8%.
Investors are preparing for the next meeting on determining the ECB's monetary policy, after the bank failed to meet expectations about small amount of incentives after December meeting.
Market participants also continue to monitor the oil market, where prices rose on Monday above $ 37 a barrel amid continuing hopes for a reduction in production.
The financial sector has weakened, as shares of BNP Paribas (PA: BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA: SOGN) fell 1.73% and 2.13%, while German Deutsche Bank (DE: DBKGn) and Commerzbank (DE: CBKG) lost 1.59% and 2.01%.
Among the peripheral lenders, the Italian Unicredit (MI: CRDI) and Intesa Sanpaolo (MI: ISP) weakened by 0.79% and 1.38% respectively, while the Spanish Banco Santander (MC: SAN) and BBVA (MC: BBVA) fell 0.93% and 1.90%.
Shares of RWE AG (DE: RWEG) lost 1.16% after the German electric power company announced its intention to cut 2400 jobs in its British division because of the annual loss caused by failures in the billing system and the loss of more than 350 000 customers.
London's FTSE 100 fell 1.03%, being under the pressure of a sharp slowdown in the mining sector.
Shares of Rio Tinto (LON: RIO) fell 4.72%, shares in Glencore (LON: GLEN) lost 4.74%, while shares of Anglo American (LON: AAL) and Bhp Billiton (LON: BLT) tumbled 5.59% and 5.51% respectively.
In the US, equity markets pointed to a lower open. Dow Jones Industrial Average shows a 0.67% decline, S&P 500 futures indicate a 0.73% drop, while Nasdaq 100 futures reported a decrease by 0.92%.