Doha: European stock indices retreated to their lowest level in a week at the start of Tuesday's trading. The Stoxx 600 European index fell by 1.1 percent, to 565.47 points, marking its lowest level since Nov. 7. The main stock markets in Germany and France both dropped by more than 1.2 percent.

According to Qatar News Agency, the DAX (Germany) declined by 1.16 percent to 23,312.40 points, the FTSE (UK) fell by about 0.8 percent to 9,588.31 points, and the CAC (France) was down 1.2 percent to 8,014.47 points. European bank stocks were the biggest losers on the European index, dropping by more than 2 percent.

Shares of European AI-equipment manufacturers also experienced declines: Siemens Energy fell by 3 percent, Schneider Electric by 2 percent, and ABB dropped by 4 percent.