European stocks closed largely lower on Tuesday, but pared some losses, as investors trod carefully amid earnings and geopolitical tensions.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed around 0.4 percent lower.
European bourses
European markets
The French CAC index and German DAX provisionally ended 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent lower respectively. However, the U.K's FTSE 100 bucked the trend to end almost 0.1 percent higher.
Earnings bonanza
Shares of Ericsson closed around 5.6 percent lower after the Swedish telecoms equipment maker reported a fall in second-quarter sales and operating profit and said it would intensify cost-cutting activities in the face of a weaker mobile broadband market.
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis reported second quarter sales of $12.47 billion and core operating income of $3.33 billion, versus a Reuters poll average of $3.21 billion. Shares of Novartis closed 0.3 percent down.
Volvo rebounded to close 1.9 percent higher after it reported a fall in second-quarter net profit amid a drop in sales of its trucks and construction equipment.
Shares of Zalando rocketed to close more than 20 percent higher after the online clothing retailer raised its full-year earnings guidance and reported a jump in second-quarter revenue.
Meanwhile, shares of AkzoNobel closed 4.5 percent lower after the paintmaker said it had seen "continued volume growth with improved profitability" but that revenue had fallen 6 percent to 3.7 billion euros ($4.1 billion), "adversely affected by currencies."
Data watch
U.K. inflation rose 0.5 percent in June compared to a year ago, the Office for National Statistics reported on Tuesday.
The Zew Institute's German economic index fell to -6.8 in July from 19.2 in the previous month, with the organization naming uncertainty around Brexit as the main driver.
U.S. indexes fell back slightly on Tuesday, following a week of record highs. Goldman Sachs posted better-than-expected results, joining Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America on the list of major financials that beat forecasts.
Asian markets closed mixed on Tuesday, with shares of internet and telecommunication giant SoftBank tumbling 10 percent as investors reacted to the company's announcement on Monday that it had agreed to acquire British semiconductor firm ARM Holdings in a deal worth $32 billion.
Shares of ARM ended 0.5 percent lower in afternoon trade on Tuesday, having closed up 41 percent on Monday.