The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 1.1 percent, with all sectors and major bourses in negative territory.



Italy's FTSE MIB was among the top fallers among national indexes, down more than 1.3 percent as a sell-off in the country's government bonds resumed on Wednesday. Uncertainty over the creation of an anti-establishment government in Rome has prompted a sharp fall in the country's benchmark index.

Meanwhile, Germany's DAX index, which typically finds support amid currency weakness, slipped 1.47 percent.

Europe's basic resource stocks led the losses, down 2.47 percent amid elevated tensions in trade talks. The European Union's trade chief said Tuesday that the bloc's efforts to persuade Washington not to impose tariffs on imports of EU steel and aluminum appeared to have failed.

President Donald Trump has granted EU producers an exemption from import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, depending on the outcome of talks. The exemption expires on June 1. Anglo American was the worst performer in the sector and the pan-European benchmark, down 5 percent.

Britain's Marks & Spencer surged towards the top of the index after it reported its latest figures on Wednesday. The 134-year-old company posted a second straight decline in annual profit and said it urgently had to modernize in order to not to risk fading away. Nonetheless, its shares rose over 5 percent as results were largely in line with expectations.