ASX ASX Limited

European stocks paused a winning streak on Wednesday after concerns about higher U.S. interest rates sent Wall Street to a lower close.

The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1% in the early minutes of trading after six consecutive days of gains. Every sector was in the red, with mining companies the worst performers despite a modest rebound in gold and oil prices.

London's FTSE 100 Index, which closed at its highest level since 2015 on Tuesday, inched down 0.3%.

In currencies, the British pound declined to as low as $1.2685 on Wednesday after touching a 31-year-low in the previous session. The dollar was otherwise slightly softer, with the WSJ Dollar Index down 0.1%.

U.S. stocks, bonds and gold prices had dropped on Tuesday while the dollar strengthened as investors sold shares of steady dividend-payers on signals the Federal Reserve expects to raise rates by the end of the year.

Shares in Asia mostly ended higher, catching up with gains in Europe in the previous session, except Australia's S&P ASX 200 where mining companies took a hit from gold's biggest daily drop since June on Tuesday.

Yields on 10-year German government bonds were at minus 0.56%, holding onto most of Tuesday's steep climb triggered by a report from Bloomberg News that policy makers at the European Central Bank reached an informal consensus to wind down bond buying gradually when the bank decides to end the purchases program. The ECB subsequently denied the governing council had discussed the subject.

Write to Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 05, 2016 04:15 ET (08:15 GMT)

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