(Reuters] – German shares fell on Tuesday due to concerns over aggressive central banks and a higher-than-expected inflation rate in Germany’s largest economy.

Now investors are awaiting eurozone annual inflation data for May 0900 GMT. This is expected to rise to 7.7%, a record after the 7.4% increase last month. As crude oil prices rose after Europe pledged to reduce most Russian oil imports, fears of an increase in energy costs increased. [O/R]

The regional index for the area fell 0.6% by 0713 GMT. There was added volatility due to U.S. markets returning after a long weekend.

The losses were more severe in technology and travel stocks, which fell by over 1%.

STOXX 600 was expected to drop over 1% by the end of this month.

London was outperformed by 0.1% energy rallies and Unilever’s (NYSE:) surged 7% following the appointment of activist investor Nelson Peltz as its board member.

DSM, a Dutch specialist chemicals company, saw 10.4% increase due to plans to merge its operations with Swiss rival Firmenich. DSM announced that its engineering materials division was being sold to Advent International for 3.85 billion Euros ($4.13 Billion). Lanxess, a German chemical company, also bought the subsidiary.

The Lanxess rose 10.9%