European stocks eased from a oneyear peak on Tuesday, as a new wave of coronavirus infection and fresh lockdown in Germany raised fears of a slow economic recovery from the pandemic shock.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 index fell 0.4 after a new round of sanctions aimed at China hit Asian markets.

The German DAX dropped 0.4 after Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday decided to extend lockdown until April 18 and called on citizens to stay at home for five days over the Easter holidays.

Swedish truckmaker Volvo slumped 6.4 after it warned that a shortage of semiconductors would have a substantial impact on production in the second quarter.

Its stock weighed on Europes industrial goods and services sector , while automakers slid 1.8 to give back some of their recent gains.

The market is taking the view that recovery is going to be delayed because things are not getting better for the time being, said Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at Barclays.

But as long as the vaccine efficacy is not being put into question, we think investors will look through shortterm volatility.

The STOXX 600 last week climbed to their highest level since February, recouping most of the pandemicdriven losses on hopes that vaccination drives and stimulus measures will spur a strong economic rebound.

The gains have slowed this week amid worries about a surge in COVID19 cases. The tally of new cases in France accelerated despite the start of a third lockdown, while Austria postponed…