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Sept 29 (Reuters) - European stock markets opened lower on
Tuesday as a rebound in the previous session fizzled out, with
investors remaining cautious ahead of the first U.S.
presidential debate.
The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX 600 slipped 0.5% in
early deals after recording its biggest single-day gain in three
months on Monday.
Growth-sensitive sectors such as banks .SX7P , automakers
.SXAP and travel & leisure .SXTP , were down between 1.0% and
1.4% and led the declines as the global death toll from COVID-19
pandemic crossed 1 million, according to a Reuters tally.
While there were some signs of progress in talks over a
fresh U.S. coronavirus relief bill, investors were mostly in a
wait-and-see mode as U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe
Biden and President Donald Trump looked set to square off in
their first debate in Cleveland, five weeks before the election.
Among individual movers, Air France KLM AIRF.PA fell 3.9%
after HSBC downgraded the stock to "reduce" from "hold".
British plumbing parts distributor Ferguson FERG.L jumped
6.3% as it restored its dividend after a series of
cost-reduction measures and resilience in its main U.S. business
helped it report a 4.1% rise in annual profit.