* FTSEurofirst 300 index ends 1.6 percent lower
* Energy shares top the losers list, track weak crude
* Autos under pressure due to falling car demand
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - European shares ended lower for a
fourth straight session on Monday, dragged down by weaker energy
shares on the back of falling crude and as the concerns about
the prospect for further corporate sector losses mounted.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
closed 1.6 percent lower at 853.22 points after falling 0.5
percent on Friday. The index plunged 45 percent in 2008.
The energy sector took the most points off the index as
crude fell about 7 percent, pushed lower by growing evidence
recession is reducing global energy consumption.
BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BG Group <BG.L>,
Tullow Oil <TLW.L>, Norsk Hydro <NHY.OL> and Total <TOTF.PA>
shed 0.8-10 percent.
Shares in automakers, hard hit by falling demand for cars
across the world, also slipped. BMW <BMWG.DE>, Daimler AG
<DAIGn.DE>, Porsche <PSHG_p.DE>, Volkswagen AG <VOWG.DE>,
Renault <RENA.PA> and Fiat <FIA.MI> were down up to 8.4 percent.
"The levels of indexes seem to reflect that they already
have taken on board a lot of profit forecasts being reduced.
Nevertheless, risk aversion is the main story of the day," said
Valerie Plagnol, chief strategist at CM-CIC Securities.
"We are not yet sure of the depths and lengths of the
recession and as long as we cannot access that properly, it's
hard to really look at a rebound. Sector by sector, we need to
be very selective and very careful," she said.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's
leading indicator for the Group of Seven (G7) nations fell to
93.3, pointing to "deep slowdowns in the major seven economies
and in major non-OECD member economies, particularly China,
India and Russia". []
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index <>, Germany's
DAX <> and France's CAC 40 <> fell 0.5-1.6 percent.
DOWNTURN HITS CORPORATES
The gloomy economic outlook continued to hurt companies.
Global miner Rio Tinto <RIO.L> postponed the $2.15 billion
expansion of its Brazilian iron ore mine as the global downturn
hit steel output, and a newspaper said the debt-laden group was
selling an Australian coal unit. Its shares fell 1.4 percent.
Other miners were also weaker. BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Anglo
American <AAL.L>, Vedanta Resources <VED.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L> and
Antofagasta <ANTO.L> fell up to 8.1 percent.
"What we see now is some kind of disillusion in the market
in the sense that the focus is now on the corporate earnings
season that lies ahead," said MM Warburg economist Joerg Rahn.
"There are concerns that company outlooks for 2009 and 2010
could be worse than the market has priced in so far."
But banks rose after news Britain was to take a 43.4 percent
stake in the combined Lloyds TSB-HBOS <LLOY.L> <HBOS.L> because
shareholders had largely shunned both lenders' rights issues.
Lloyds rose 7 percent, HBOS gained 5.4 percent, Barclays
<BARC.L> was up 3.1 percent and HSBC <HSBA.L> rose 1.6 percent.
In the United States, the break-up of banking giant
Citigroup <C.N> moved a step closer, as it closed in on a deal
to join its Smith Barney business with Morgan Stanley's
brokerage operation <MS.N>, people familiar with the matter
said. []
Among other movers, Germany's RWE <RWEG.DE> slipped 2.7
percent after it said it was to buy Dutch peer Essent's
production and delivery assets for an agreed 8.2 billion euros
($11 billion).
(Additional reporting by Joanne Frearson in London and
Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt)
