European shares slipped on Thursday as underwhelming Chinese trade data knocked down mining stocks while Standard Life and Aegon slid on broker downgrades.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell more than 1.0 per cent to a two-month low, with the index down by around 8.0 per cent so far in 2016. All major sub-sectors were lower on Thursday.
Standard Life fell 4.6 per cent after Barclays cut the stock to "underweight" while insurer Aegon fell more than 5.0 per cent after Societe Generale cut it to a "hold" on worries over variable annuities in the United States.
Dutch navigation firm TomTom fell 6.6 per cent after it said sales of its personal navigation devices had been weaker than expected in the third quarter.
Mining stocks such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto took a hit after gloomy trade data from China, which is the world's biggest consumer of metals.
Sterling has shed 18 per cent against the US dollar since the "Brexit" vote, according to a news agency report.
-SRS-
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