* FTSEurofirst 300 ends 1.4 pct lower
* Banks suffer on persistent concerns about losses
* Energy, mining shares track weaker commods prices
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - European equities ended lower on
Monday as poor economic data and persistent concerns about
losses at banks hit financial stocks, while commodity shares
tracked weaker base metals and crude oil prices.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
closed 1.4 percent lower at 785.30 points in thin trade, with
U.S. markets closed for the President's Day Holiday and UK
volumes lighter due to school mid-term holidays.
Banks took the most points off the index, with Royal Bank of
Scotland <RBS.L> slipping 6.4 percent, Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE>
dropping 6.5 percent, Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> down 5.3
percent and Commerzbank <CBKG.DE> shedding 7 percent.
Lloyds <LLOY.L> ended 8 percent lower after falling about 20
percent earlier in the session. On Friday, its shares fell more
than 30 percent on the back of a profit warning that revived
concerns it could need more state funds or be fully nationalised
due to deepening problems at HBOS, which it bought last month.
"There is no clear view on whether you have already reached
the bottom," said Luc Van Hecka, chief economist at KBC
Securities. "There is clearly a threat that banks will be under
pressure to sell off some of the assets at depressed prices."
New figures showed a deepening economic downturn, which has
been hurting demand for metals, cars and other commodities and
putting pressure on banks and automobile stocks.
Data showed Japan's economy shrank by 3.3 percent in the
fourth quarter, its worst since the 1974 oil crisis, the German
economy contracted by a bigger-than-expected 2.1 percent in the
last quarter of 2008 and the Confederation of British Industry
said Britain will fall into a deeper recession than previously
thought.
The number of homes sold in recession-bound Spain fell 26
percent in December from a year earlier, while asking prices for
properties in England and Wales were a record 9.1 percent lower
in February than last year.
"There's a lot of uncertainty hanging over the markets,"
said Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, equity strategist at Postbank.
"Long-term investors are still on the sidelines ... There's
a very low number of trades and a very low number of market
participants."
COMMODITY STOCKS SLIDE
Energy shares tracked crude oil prices <CLc1> which fell 1.5
percent. BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSb.L>, BG Group <BG.L>,
Tullow Oil <TLW.L>, Repsol <REP.MC>, Total <TOTF.PA> and
StatoilHydro <STL.OL> shed between 0.6 and 2.8 percent.
Miners also retreated, with Anglo American <AAL.L>,
Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L>
and Xstrata <XTA.L> falling between 0.1 and 3.4 percent.
British life insurer Legal & General <LGEN.L> fell 10.5
percent after the company said it was not involved in any talks
with the financial market regulator beyond routine discussions
in the run-up to its full-year results.
The Financial Times said at the weekend that L&G was in
discussions with the Financial Services Authority over how much
money it should set aside to cover defaults in its bond
portfolio.
Europe's second-largest mail and express delivery firm, TNT
<TNT.AS>, fell 6.7 percent after it posted a 37 percent drop in
fourth-quarter operating profit, cut its dividend, and said it
did not expect any real improvement in economic conditions in
2009.
German pay TV broadcaster Premiere AG <PREGn.DE> gave
shareholders little to look forward to in 2009 as it forecast
more losses and no subscriber growth for at least four months.
Its shares fell 14.4 percent.
On the positive side, French industrial gases firm Air
Liquide <AIRP.PA> rose 7.2 percent after it met its own forecast
for double-digit net profit growth in 2008.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index <>, Germany's DAX
<> and France's CAC 40 <> were down 1.1-1.3 percent.
(Additional reporting by Peter Starck in Frankfurt and Brian
Gorman in London; editing by Simon Jessop)
