FTSE 100 up 0.09%; DAX down 1.25%; CAC 40 down 0.56% (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milan, 25 Jun - European shares opened mostly lower in cautious trade after a mixed close in Asia and losses on Wall Street overnight.

In the region's stock market dealings most sectors were lower, with tech shares leading the way south as they tracked a selloff in US tech stocks overnight, with the Nasdaq Composite index posting its worst day since April after a recent rally and tech darling Nvidia dipping 6.7% after soaring 145% this year.

Oil and gas stocks bucked the trend and rose.

Investors looked ahead to the first US presidential debate on Thursday and the first round of voting in the French election this weekend.

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National) party and its allies were seen leading the first round of the country's elections with 35.5% of the vote, according to a poll published on Sunday.

On the data front, Spanish gross domestic product rose 0.8% in the first quarter, climbing 2.5% on the year, slightly beating estimates.

Traders also braced for fresh economic data and interest rate decisions from Sweden's and Turkey's central banks this week.

Last week the Bank of England's left interest rates unchanged at a 16-year high of 5.25%, as widely expected, while the the Swiss National Bank cut rates by 25 basis points to 1.25%.

The Norges Bank, Norway's central bank, said it decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 4.5% and is likely to keep it at this level until the end of the year, before gradually reducing it.

At 0730 GMT the London FTSE 100 was up 0.09% at 8,288 points, the Frankfurt DAX was down 1.25% at 18,113 points, the Paris CAC 40 down 0.56% at 7,663 points, while in Milan the FTSE MIB was down 0.18% at 33,775 points, and in Madrid the IBEX 35 was down 0.21% at 11,149 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 25-06-24 09:50:37 (0213) 5 NNNN