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European sharemarkets fell slightly on Monday, with the downturn led by banks as Britain posted its biggest drop in house values in six years.
Shares in Britain's third-largest bank, Barclays, lost two percent to 342.75 pence, while shares in the UK's biggest bank, Lloyds, fell 1.9 percent to 306 pence.
Britain's most-used property website, Rightmove, said house prices have fallen 2.3 percent in August, the biggest decline since the company began recording home values in 2002.
British company Home Retail Group, which owns home and general merchandise chains Argos and Homebase, lost 3.4 percent to 247 pence, while shares in Britain's homebuilder, Persimmon lost 5.6 percent to 332 pence.
At the close of trading on Monday, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European blue chips lost 1.1 points, or 0.092 percent, to close at 1,189.15, while the UK's FTSE 100 index lost 4.60 points, or 0.08 percent, to close at 5450.20.
France's CAC index shed 4.78 points, or 0.11 percent, to close at 4448.84, while Germany's DAX lost 13.14 points, or 0.20 percent, to close at 6432.88.
On the commodity markets, Brent Crude oil gained US$1.89, or 1.7 percent, to close at US$111.68 a barrel, while on the Forex Gold Index gold gained US$9.75 cents, or 1.2 percent, to be worth US$796.25 an ounce.
(c) NewsRoom 2008
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