6:30AM Europe was lower on Tuesday on losses in banks and telecoms.
European markets declined on Tuesday. In early trade, the FTSE 100 in London shed 0.3% to 6,2238, Frankfurt Xetra Dax was little changed at 6,724.37, and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.2% to 5,609.54.

Advancers

Air France-KLM, which has cross-shareholdings with Alitalia, gained 3.6% after it said the conditions were not right for a bid. Lufthansa, which on Monday was upgraded by JPMorgan, gained 1.4%, and budget carrier Ryanair added 1.4%. Alitalia jumped 3.3% after receiving 11 expressions of interest. The deadline for first-round offers ended yesterday.

Decliners

The worst performing sectors were basic resources like oil groups and mining stocks as prices fell on commodity markets. Norway Statoil fell 1.2 %, while Austrian OMV lost 0.5% and Italian Eni lost 0.4%. London-listed mining stocks added to the losses as metals prices fell. Kazakhmys lost 2.4%. Steelmakers were also lower, with French steel pipe maker Vallourec off 1.2%, and German ThyssenKrupp down 0.6%.

Oil and gold

Crude oil for March delivery rose 40 cents, or 0.7%, to $54.41 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $54.27 in early trade in London. Brent crude for March gained 47 cents, or 0.9%, to $54.15 a barrel in electronic trading on the ICE Futures exchange and last traded at $53.98 in London.

Gold for immediate delivery in London fell $2.40, or 0.4%, to $641.30 an ounce, and traded $642.50 in early trade.

Currencies

The 13-nation euro rose slightly against the U.S. dollar Tuesday ahead of a meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve that could set the tone for future interest rate hikes. In morning European trading, the euro bought $1.2960, compared with $1.2956 late Monday in New York. The British pound rose to $1.9675 from $1.9595, while the dollar fell to 121.92 Japanese yen from 121.94 yen.

5:00AM Precious metals declined on Monday on technical selling.
The most-active March copper lost 9.5 cents to end at $2.5420 per pound and the most-active February gold ended down $1.50 at $643.20 an ounce. March silver shed 12.5 cents to settle at $13.25 an ounce. April platinum finished $6.80 lower at $1,174.70 an ounce while March palladium declined $6 to close at $344.95 an ounce.

The front-month March crude oil contract lost $1.41 to end at $54.01 a barrel. February heating oil declined 4.25 cents to end at $1.5489 a gallon. Front-month gasoline settled down 4.24 cents at $1.441 a gallon and February natural gas dropped 25.8 cents to close at $6.917 per million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, March Arabica coffee futures gained 0.30 cent to settle at $1.1660 a pound, with May up 0.30 cent at $1.1980. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for March finished 0.13 cents lower at 10.59 cents a pound, with May off 0.12 cent at 10.80 cents.