London — European shares fell and the dollar dipped against the yen on Tuesday, as tension about North Korea and the coming weekend’s knife-edge presidential election in France kept investors nervous. Low-risk government debt, a favoured investment in uncertain times, was in demand, while gold held firm close to five-month highs touched on Monday, the day after a failed ballistic missiles test by Pyongyang. Turkey’s lira rose against the dollar after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan rejected Western criticism of a referendum in which he won sweeping new powers. With market activity reduced in the past week due to Easter holidays, investors have focused on political factors that also include Syria and US relations with Russia and China. European shares fell on their first day of trading since the break. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index, which hit 16-month highs last week, was down 0.6%, led lower by the basic resources and oil and gas sectors as commodity prices dropped. MSCI’s broad...
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