North Korea tensions send European shares to six-month low

Rising geopolitical tensions sent European shares to their lowest in six months on Tuesday after a missile launch by North Korea sent jitters through Asian trading.

The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 1 per cent, firmly on track to make August its third month in a row of losses. Euro zone stocks and blue-chips also slipped 0.9 per cent while Britain's FTSE and France's CAC 40 both fell 1 per cent.

North Korea fired a missile over northern Japan, prompting reprimands from the Japanese government and hitting Japanese and Korean stocks and the US dollar.

As jitters spread to European markets, all sectors fell and among the only bright spots were gold miners

Randgold Resources and Fresnillo , up 2.6 to 3.2 per cent as the price of gold soared to a 9 1/2 month high as investors rushed into safe haven assets.

The VSTOXX, a gauge of European investor anxiety, jumped to its highest in a week.

Media sector suffered the heaviest losses as Prosiebensat fell as much as 12 per cent after the German television company said it was looking for investors for its TV production and e-commerce units.

A downgrade from Goldman Sachs also weighed on the shares. German peer RTL Group also fell 7 per cent.

With the Jackson Hole symposium yielding no big change to monetary policy expectations, and an earnings season met with lukewarm share reactions, catalysts to support European equities were scarce and some investors expected a correction, though valuations in the region remained attractive relative to Wall Street.