* FTSEurofirst 300 index down 0.5 percent
* Banking stocks under pressure
* Siemens weighs after downgrade
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - European shares closed lower on
Monday, with British lenders the biggest fallers on concerns
Britain was still mulling a windfall tax on bankers' bonuses.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
shares closed down 0.5 percent at 1,020.61 points.
The index is up 58 percent since it reached a record low in
early March and is up nearly 23 for the year.
"I sort of feel we have had the first phase of the bull
market, the next phase is going to be a bit of a struggle," said
Mike Lenhoff, strategist at Brewin Dolphin.
"The markets are going to be preoccupied now on when the
central banks are going to change their message on interest
rates. It will have a dampening influence on how much progress
these equity markets can make and how sustainable it is."
There has been growing concern that interest rates could
rise sooner than had been anticipated, following last week's
surprisingly optimistic U.S. jobs report.
Banks featured among the worst performers. HSBC <HSBA.L>,
Barclays <BARC.L>, Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> and Credit
Suisse <GSGN.VX> were down 1.5 to 4.1 percent.
A UK government source told Reuters on Friday a windfall tax
on banks was one revenue-raising option being considered by
finance minister Alistair Darling for his pre-budget report on
Wednesday. []
SIEMENS FALLS
General industrial stocks were under pressure. Siemens
<SIEGn.DE> lost 1.6 percent after Morgan Stanley downgraded the
stock to "equal-weight" from "overweight".
Shares in Bayer <BAYGn.DE> were down 1.4 percent
after it ruled out delivering data to U.S. regulator FDA on its
anti blood-clotting pill Xarelto this year and postponed
publishing more details until 2010.
On the upside, BASF <BASF.DE> was up 1.5 percent after its
CEO, Juergen Hambrecht, in an interview said the company would
earn more than it expected in the fourth quarter due to an
increase in orders.
Daimler <DAIGn.DE> gained 1.3 percent after it said it
expects fourth-quarter sales volume at its Mercedes-Benz
passenger car division to rise considerably in the fourth
quarter. []
"Stocks are looking fairly valued, though there's still some
of the stimulus down the track. You could argue both ways," said
Andy Lynch, fund manager at Schroders.
However, he added that volumes were low, "and it's very
difficult to read anything into the movements today."
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <> index was down 0.2
percent, Germany's DAX <> fell 0.6 percent and France's
CAC 40 <> was 0.2 percent lower.
(Additional reporting by Brian Gorman; Editing by Jon
Loades-Carter)
