Europe close: Tech paces losses, French and Spanish politics in the headlines

European shares finished down again on Wednesday on the back of softer-than-expected readings for Chinese services sector activity and US job openings.

"A significant loss of power in the US economy, combined with China’s ongoing struggles, has sparked nervousness about the global growth outlook," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

"The latest snapshot on the services industry from China, the Caixin PMI numbers disappointed, with new order growth easing off, which has added to the pessimism.”

The Stoxx 600 index was down 0.97% at 514.82 with all the major bourses lower alongside by a similar amount.

Technology fared worst in the pan-European index, with the corresponding sector index down by 3.17% to 785.68, as a sharp drop in the share price of US giant Nvidia hit investor sentiment.

Tellingly perhaps, front-dated Brent crude oil futures declined 1.34% to $72.41 a barrel on the ICE.

There was some slightly brighter news from the Continent as the eurozone's private sector experienced its fastest growth in three months during August, driven by a stronger services sector, according to the latest Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB) eurozone composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) on Wednesday.

The composite PMI rose to 51.0, up from 50.2 in July, marking a slight expansion in economic activity.

In France, French President Emmanuel Macron was said to be running into trouble in trying to find a prime ministerial candidate amenable to the country's hung parliament.

Further south, in Spain, President Pedro Sánchez promised higher taxes on those with "enough in the bank to live a 100 lives".

He also pushed back against criticism of what the opposition, but also many socialists, see as fiscal giveaways to the region of Catalonia, his push towards what he argues is greater federalism in Spain and his personal choice for the post of central bank governor.

Sánchez also said that he would work towards a shorter work week.

In equity news, shares in semi-conductor makers ASML, BE Semiconductor and ASM International all fell in response to a sharp slump in US sector peer Nvidia’s stock price on Wall Street overnight.

"A near 10% collapse in Nvidia shares helped turn a bad day into an awful one for the markets, although the belated announcement that the DoJ had issued a subpoena to the firm for an antitrust investigation at least does provide some basis for such a dramatic move," said Scope Markets analyst Joshua Mahony.

"While many tech companies have long positioned themselves to necessitate consumers to solely use their products, there is a feeling that Nvidia does not have a history of abusing their monopolistic position. Nonetheless, markets find themselves in a unstable position as we await further evidence on the health of the economy, and the lofty valuations attached to many of these big tech names will put them in the firing line when it comes to trimming back on equity positions."