European stocks posted declines on Tuesday after data for euro area inflation disappointed the market ahead of the monthly meeting of the European Central Bank ( ECB).

European stocks posted declines on Tuesday after data for euro area inflation disappointed the market ahead of the monthly meeting of the European Central Bank ( ECB).

The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 index fell 0.50 % to 343.36 points. Declines were recorded on the stock exchanges in London , Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid.

Britain's FTSE 100 erased 0.47% to 6 832.01 points. The German DAX lost 0.24 percent to 9 926.24 points, while the French CAC 40 slid 0.25 percent to 4 504.56 points. In Spain you IBEX 35 closed the session with a retreat of 0.47 % to 10,777 points.

Investors remain focused on the big macroeconomic event of the week - the meeting of the Executive Board of the ECB on Thursday passed CNBC. Many economists expect President Mario Draghi to announce new measures to stimulate the economy on the continent , the main question is exactly what they will be. In the broad list of assumptions fall further lowering interest rates , a new portion cheap loans to banks and even the purchase of assets by the example of the Bank of Japan and the U.S. Federal Reserve .

Presented earlier in the day data showed that inflation in the eurozone remained in " danger zone " of less than 1 percent . The consumer price index for May is increased by 0.5% yoy. In April Meter accelerate by 0.7 % after rising 0.5 percent in March. Analysts had expected the index to account for slightly stronger growth of 0.6 percent last month.

The harmonized index excluding prices of alcohol, tobacco , food and energy yield to an increase of 0.7 % compared with an increase of 1 percent in April. The market consensus bet on expansion of 0.8 percent .

While the unemployment rate in the European Union ( EU) and the euro area declined by 0,1 percentage points - to 10.4 %, and 11.7% . Eurostat estimates the total number of unemployed in the EU exceeded 25.47 million, of which more than 18.75 million are citizens of the euro area. Compared to March, the number of unemployed declined by 151,000 people in the EU and 76 000 - in the eurozone. Compared to April last year did the drop was nearly 1.17 million people and 487 000.

Austria, Germany and Luxembourg remain the countries with the lowest unemployment rates in the EU - 4.9%, respectively , 5.2% and 6.1 %. Greece and Spain are at the other end with an unemployment rate of 26.5% and respectively 25.1% . The data for our southern neighbor is in February .

British manufacturer Wolseley was the only major company to submit financial results in Europe on Tuesday. The company reported a slight increase in profit for the third fiscal quarter , which expanded its capitalization by 1.63 per cent.