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The FTSEurofirst 300 stock exchange declined 0.2 per cent, Reuters reports, with poor financial results from Swiss engineering firm ABB contributing to the slide.
It revealed a 35 per cent fall in first-quarter profit, missing investor forecasts and also posting a cautious outlook for the coming months.
However, Credit Suisse climbed 7.3 per cent, with investors encouraged by the news that the bank has bounced back from its losses in the final quarter of last year with a 2 billion Swiss franc (£1.18 billion) profit during the first three months of 2009.
Carmakers also saw their shares slide, with BMW, Porsche, Volkswagen and Peugeot declining by between 1.3 and three per cent on the back of news that Toyota sales dropped 27 per cent in the opening quarter.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 has recorded a slight gain, climbing 0.46 per cent to 4,049.36 points at 11:19 BST.
