European markets closed lower in choppy trade on Tuesday.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 0.2% lower at 852.62 points.
Financial stocks were among the biggest decliners. Barclays was down 6.5%, Lloyds fell 10.3%, Royal Bank of Scotland slipped 5.6% and UBS shed 7.3%.
The European Union is to 'stress test' the banking system by September to find out if it is adequately capitalised.
A similar test of 19 banks in the United States concluded that 10 of them should boost their capital by around $US75 billion in total.
In Frankfurt, the DAX index ended at 4,854.11 points, down 12.8 or 0.26%. In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 3,231.1 points, down 17.57 or 0.54%.
The Swiss market index closed at 5,346.03 points, down 12.91 or 0.24%.
In London, the FTSE 100 closed 9.96 points lower, or 0.2% at 4,425.54, after losing 0.6% on Monday. The index is down 0.2% for the year.
The US trade gap widened less than expected in March: exports fell 2.4% and imports dropped for the eighth consecutive month.
Other markets
In Tokyo, the Nikkei index shed 153.37 points, 1.62%, to 9,298.61. It was up 134.38 points on Monday - its highest close since 5 November.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index finished the session up 65.69 points, 0.38%, at 17,153.64.
In Australia, stocks fell 1.24% before the budget was announced. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 48.8 points to 3,877.2 - its lowest close since May 6.
In New Zealand, the NZX50 fell 16 points, or 0.58%, to 2812.
