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The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.4%, following an overnight dour session on Wall Street after U.S. bond yields rose.
France’s CAC 40 fell 0.6% after the country imposed a new four-week lockout since Friday in 16 regions hit hard by the health crisis.
French hotel group Accor, Air France and supplier company Sodexo were ready to ease into morning trade.
Concerns over the speed of the vaccine are gaining ground after Britain said it would have to delay its release next month due to a supply crisis caused by a delay in transport.
“We are at this terrible stage where we are clearly seeing light at the end of the tunnel even through a slow vaccination,” said Philipp Lisibach, chief global strategist at Credit Suisse in Zurich.
“Nevertheless, in the summer we expect many countries to be able to lift some of the constraints and we expect this to be the start of a sharp economic recovery in Europe. ”
European stocks were on track for a weekly gain of 0.4% as a rally in manufacturers and signs that the U.S. Federal Reserve maintains low interest rates despite an expected rise in economic growth. overcoming concerns about rising productivity.
Automakers fell 0.8% after a strong run and remained on course for the third straight week of gain.
Oil majors BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total fell between 0.8% and 1.8% after crude prices fell nearly 7% for fear of the new locks hurting fuel demand.
Europe’s largest facility Enel rose 1% after meeting its targets for the year after hitting employment expectations.
German sportswear manufacturers Adidas and Puma fell more than 1% each after a disappointing full-year Nike revenue forecast.
Evolution Gaming rose 3.6% after Goldman Sachs started broadcasting the Swedish casino games developer with a ‘buy’ rating.
Reporting with Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Edited by Arun Koyyur