European shares subdued as earnings boost counters tech slide

European stocks traded with a subdued tone on Tuesday as losses in technology were tempered by earnings-led gains in luxury and consumer shares. The pan-European STOXX 600 held near flat at 645.32 around 0703 GMT, while tech (.SX8P) fell 0.8% after dropping nearly 2% the prior session. A Reuters report said China has started making domestically developed immersion deep-ultraviolet lithography machines, a technology long dominated by ASML, sparking a semiconductor selloff; ASML shares were down 2% early. Unilever rose 5.3% after beating Q2 sales growth estimates, and LVMH gained 2.5%. Mercedes-Benz climbed 3.3% but warned of weakness in core cars.