Europe close: Stocks end lower as global uncertainties weigh

Equities on the other side of the Channel finished in the red, reversing early gains in another down day in Italian government debt markets and on the heels of a weak reading on German factory goods orders.

Notably, market commentary appeared to be emphasising the formidable array of risk events that were headed investors' way over the next week, including policy meetings at the US Federal Reserve and at the European Central Bank, not to mention the 12 June summit between Pyongyang and Washington.

On that note, Blackstone's veteran market strategist Byron Wien told CNBC that investors should be careful.

"My feeling is that there's something lurking out there, Carl [Quintanilla], that is going to upset the market and it's probably a geopolitical event. Maybe the upcoming North Korea summit."

Against that backdrop, the benchmark Stoxx 600 finished down by 0.24% or 0.94 points to 385.94, alongside a 0.17% or 9.20 point dip on the Cac-40 to 5,448.36.

The FTSE Mibtel meantime drifting lower by 0.18% or 39.99 points to 21,767.60.

Mimicking that reversal in the broader market, the Stoxx 600 sub-index of Technology shares also ended the day lower, albeit by just 0.25% on the day, with its components tracking the losses seen among its brethren on Wall Street.

In other asset classes, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Italian government bond was 12 basis points higher by the end of play at 3.06%, although that on similarly-dated Spanish debt was down by three basis points to 1.47%.

That divergence was reflected in shares, with slight gains for Spain's benchmark Ibex 35.

Echoing Wien's caution, although his view was not quite as glum, Blackrock's global chief investment strategist, Richard Turnhill, said: "The risk of European fragmentation – one of the top 10 risks monitored in our recently launched Geopolitical risk dashboard – adds to rising global economic uncertainty.

"It comes amid the U.S. implementing tariffs against China, the EU, Mexico and Canada, triggering retaliatory actions. Other uncertainties include the impact of hefty U.S. fiscal stimulus on growth and the duration of this cycle."

Meanwhile, in economic news, Germany's Ministry of Finance reported that factory orders fell by 2.5% month-on-month in April (consensus: -1.1%), dragged lower by a sharp 4.8% drop in orders for domestic goods, including a 5.6% fall in capital goods orders in comparison to March.

Commenting on the figures, Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics told clients: "We are fairly confident that new orders are not falling year-over-year as implied by the headline rate, so we are looking for a rebound next month, especially in capital goods orders. That said, this headline comes at a delicate time with growth already having slowed, bond market volatility in Italy and the ECB about to announce that it will end QE.