April 20 Reuters European shares pulled back on Tuesday after hitting record highs a day earlier, as tobacco companies weighed on UK stocks and many regional indexes edged off prepandemic highs.

Shares of British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands and Swedish Match fell between 1.7 and 5.6 in early trading following a report the Biden administration was considering requiring tobacco companies to lower the nicotine levels in all cigarettes sold in the United States.

UKs bluechip FTSE 100 fell 0.4, Germanys DAX was flat and Frances CAC 40 slipped 0.3.

The panregional STOXX 600 index dropped 0.2 by 0707 GMT. The benchmark has hit a series of alltime highs this month after having climbed more than 10 so far in 2021.

French food group Danone slipped 0.9 even as it kept its goal of returning to profitable growth in the second half of 2021.

Swedish medical gear maker Getinge jumped 7.7 after it posted a rise in firstquarter core profit.

Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta

Source Reuters