* FTSEurofirst 300 index down 1.1 pct
* Bank stocks pressured by Obama plan
* Oils track lower crude prices
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - European shares fell on Friday to
post their worst weekly fall in nearly three months, with
financial stocks hit by U.S. President Barack Obama's vague
proposals to curb risk-taking at banks.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of leading European
shares closed down 1.1 percent at 1,024.95 points, losing for
the third consecutive session.
The index lost 2.6 percent for the week, its worst weekly
percentage fall in nearly three months and is down 2 percent
this year.
"It is all to do with the banks. The bottom line here is we
have no idea how the banking plan is about to unfold, if indeed
it does," said Peter Dixon, economist at Commerzbank.
"This is all at a time when markets are already fairly
wobbly. The markets are always going to sell off when there is
uncertainty. I think this is the story for today and will be for
the next week."
Banks took the most points off the index after Obama
unveiled tough new proposals on Thursday to limit risk-taking in
the banking sector and restrict some of the banks' most
lucrative operations. []
Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX>, Barclays <BARC.L>, UBS <UBSN.VX>
and Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> fell 3.9 to 6.4 percent.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <> index was down 0.6
percent, Germany's DAX <> fell 0.9 percent and France's
CAC 40 <> was 1.1 percent lower.
OILS SLIP
Energy stocks were under pressure as crude <CLc1> slipped
1.2 percent. BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> and Total
<TOTF.PA> lost 0.8 to 1.7 percent.
The VDAX-NEW volatility index <.V1XI>, a measure of investor
risk appetite or aversion, was up 2.8 percent after earlier
hitting a six-week high.
The higher the volatility index, which is based on sell and
buy options on Frankfurt's top-30 stocks <0#.GDAXI>, the lower
is investors' appetite for risky assets such as cyclical stocks,
and equities in general.
On the upside, mining shares rebounded as metal prices
recovered from earlier losses. Copper <MCU3=LX> was up 1.4
percent.
Anglo American <AAL.L>, Eurasian Natural Resources
Corporation <ENRC.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> gained 0.7 to 2.4
percent.
Munich Re <MUVGn.DE> gained 0.3 percent on market talk that
U.S. investor Warren Buffett might be buying shares.
In the United States, after a raft of mixed U.S. results,
global major General Electric <GE.N> topped Wall Street
expectations in its fourth-quarter earnings. []
"They are finally saying the environment is improving, and
this is very important. Margins seem to be resilient, the order
book is pretty good, and on a first look, there seems to be no
bad surprises from GE Money," said David Thebault, head of
quantitative sales trading, at Global Equities in Paris.
(Additional reporting by Blaise Robinson in Paris; Editing by
Greg Mahlich)
