Europe open: Stocks caught in downdraft from oil price collapse

Overnight, US oil futures for May fell into negative territory, as traders tried to get ahead of their expiry on Tuesday evening and thus having to take physical delivery.

IG chief market analyst, Chris Beauchamp, described it as the "complete breakdown of normality in one of the world's most vital components."

"Having decided they could weather the coronavirus crisis, equities now have to reckon with an entirely different problem," he added.

As of 1023 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 1.73% at 329.89, alongside a 1.98% fall for the German Dax to 10,464.37 while Milan's FTSE Mibtel was off by 1.36% at 16,883.30.

In parallel, Brent crude oil futures for delivery in June were 25% lower at $19.21 a barrel on the ICE, while the May contract for US West Texas Intermediate - which was due to expire on Tuesday evening - was 91% higher at -$3.43.

June WTI meanwhile was down by 6% to $14.81 a barrel.

Against that backdrop, the Stoxx 600 Oil&Gas sector index was pacing losses and trading 4.38% lower.

In economic data, the ZEW institute's closely-followed gauge of analysts' expectations for the German economy bounded higher in April from the prior month by 77.7 points to reach 28.2 (consensus: -51.5).

However, a sub-index linked to current conditions worsened by 48.4 points to -91.5.

The institute's director, Professor Achim Wambach, said financial experts were "beginning to see a light at the end of the very long tunnel" but added that economic growth in Germany was not expected to recover its levels from before the pandemic before 2022.

On the coronavirus front, the number of total ongoing Covid-19 infections in Italy dropped on Monday for the first time since the start of the pandemic, by 20 to 108,237.

Italian premier Giuseppe Conte followed on Tuesday morning announcing plans to "significantly ease" lockdown measures by 4 May.