European equities ended mixed on Monday, failing to hold onto last week's strong gains, as investors grew cautious over oil prices and individual stock news.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed the day down around 0.3 percent.
Weighed down by mining stocks, London's FTSE 100 index ended 0.7 percent lower, while the French CAC finished down 0.3 percent.
The German DAX however closed up 0.2 percent, helped by high gains from utility companies, E.ON and RWE.
European markets
E.ON and RWE closed the day higher after the companies passed a government stress test assessing whether they have enough funds to pay for the decommissioning of the country's nuclear reactors.
RWE shares closed up 9.4 percent, while E.ON was almost 5 percent higher at the close.
Other stocks at the top of the STOXX 600 included Stora Enso, after it said that third-quarter operating profit would be larger than expected. This propelled shares in the Finnish pulp and paper maker to close 6.3 percent higher.
In the commodities space, oil and gas firms traded in the red as last week's oil rally lost steam on Monday.
Brent crude oil was trading at $51.72 a barrel and U.S. light crude was at $48.56 at the close. Tullow oil, Seadrill and Statoil all closed sharply lower.
Shares in Glencore sank over 6 percent by the close after the London-listed mining giant said it planned to sell copper mines as part of efforts to slash its debt pile.
Other U.K.-listed mining companies were dragged down by Glencore's news, with Antofagasta and Anglo American closing sharply lower.
In other news, Anheuser-Busch InBev finished trade roughly flat after Reuters cited a source saying it the brewer raise its takeover offer for SABMiller ahead of . Shares in SABMiller closed down 1.3 percent.
Aircraft manufacturing stocks closed sharply lower on media reports that European competition regulators might investigate their maintenance and servicing policies.
Safran and Rolls-Royce finished around 5 percent and 4 percent lower respectively, while MTU Aero Engines was down around 4 percent.
At Europe's close, U.S. stocks traded in narrow range, as investors continued to eye commodity prices and readied for earnings season.
Overnight, equity markets in China led gains in Asia on Monday, amid expectations that Beijing would roll out further stimulus measures to ward off a sharper slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.