European shares ended mostly lower for the sixth straight session yesterday, despite bullish updates from caterer Sodexho and hedge fund giant Man Group, as earnings worries continued to nag tech issues.

Oil heavyweights also retreated in step with crude oil prices as Saudi Arabia said the OPEC oil cartel would increase output, while Statoil was further hit after Norway sold a 4.6 per cent stake at a discount.

The FTSE Eurotop 300 index trimmed 0.14 per cent to end at 981.68 points, while the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index inched down 0.02 per cent to 2,764.31 points.

Investors remained wary that the second-quarter earnings season, which starts this week in the United States, may not live up to the high expectations already priced into equities.

"Last week was about the Fed and payrolls. This week seems to be about corporate results," said Bear Stearns strategist David Brown. "The string of US company announcements that start today will definitely set the tone for stocks."

Pleasing earnings by old and new economy stallions such as aluminium giant Alcoa, Internet services provider Yahoo and conglomerate General Electric could help European stock markets recapture multi-month peaks last seen at the end of April, strategists said.

But for now, comments from PeopleSoft saying its second-quarter earnings would miss its prior forecast by a wide margin shook sentiment, already weakened by profit warnings from other software makers including Veritas Software, Sybase and JDA Software Group.

German software maker SAP shed 2.3 per cent, while shares in Sage and Business Objects trimmed 2.3 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively.

"We are getting a little concerned about the number of warnings from US tech companies and about the damage this will do to sentiment in stocks such as SAP," said Andrea Williams, head of European equities at Royal London Asset Management.

"However, their problems seem to be company specific and we still hope the earnings season will be upbeat and may provide the impetus to push prices out of their trading ranges."

Elsewhere, Nokia shed only 0.6 per cent as fund managers played down market talk that the mobile phone giant may lower its second-quarter earnings guidance. The talk had pushed shares as much as five per cent lower earlier in the session.

British telecoms equipment maker Marconi bucked a weak technology sector to add 1.6 per cent after pleasing investors with news that it had agreed to sell its US-based plant and power systems business for $375 million in cash to cut debt and consolidate its recovery after a near collapse.