Finance & Stock Market News

By Joanne Frearson

LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - European shares slipped 3.3

percent on Thursday to record their biggest one-day percentage

drop in seven months as concerns about debt problems in Dubai

weighed on the market, with banks the major fallers.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top

shares closed down 33.81 points at 988.14 -- its lowest close in

three weeks.

'The Dubai worries have played a major role in rattling

market sentiment at a time when the U.S. is closed and we are

not getting anything from anywhere else,' said Peter Dixon,

economist at Commerzbank.

'It is a day in which market uncertainty has been provoked

again. I do not think it really reflects the underlying

fundamentals of the economy and the market, it is just a

sentiment shock.'

Dubai, whose extravagant building projects have been largely

put on hold since the start of the global financial crisis, said

on Wednesday it would ask creditors at its flagship firms Dubai

World and property developer Nakheel to delay repayment on

billions of dollars of debt.

Banks took the most points off the index on concerns about

their potential exposure to debt problems in Dubai.

HSBC, Banco Santander, BNP Paribas , Barclays and Credit Suisse were

down 3.3 to 8 percent.

Other financials moved lower on Dubai exposure concerns.

London Stock Exchange fell 7.4 percent and Dutch insurer

Aegon lost 7.7 percent.



INFORMA, PORSCHE HIT BY DUBAI WORRIES

Shares in publishing and events group Informa, which

has many Middle Eastern trade fairs, fell about 9.8 percent.

Porsche lost 5.1 percent as traders pointed to

worries that Qatar Investment Authority may cut its 10 percent

stake in the carmaker to boost liquidity after the Dubai

government asked for a debt standstill on two of its firms.

Oil stocks featured among the worst performers as oil fell

2.3 percent. BG Group, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total were down 2.4 to 3.6 percent.

Miners slipped as metal prices retreated. Anglo American , Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Eurasian

Natural Resources Corporation, Rio Tinto and

Xstrata were 4.2 to 6.8 percent lower.

'It shows how vulnerable the market still is to newsflow,'

she said. 'But it should be seen as a country-specific issue.

It's not something systemic. It's about risk appetite,' said

Georgina Taylor, equity strategist, Legal & General Investment

Management.

'It's a reason for some of those involved in the market to

scale back a bit, while we try to understand what's going on.'

Meanwhile, share trading on the London Stock Exchange was

halted for more than three hours in mid morning trade following

a technical glitch.

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was down 3.2

percent, Germany's DAX was 3.3 percent lower and

France's CAC 40 was down 3.4 percent.

(additional reporting by Brian Gorman; editing by Elaine

Hardcastle)

Keywords: MARKETS EUROPE STOCKS ============================================================= For rolling updates on what is moving European shares please click on ============================================================= For pan-Europeanmarket data and news, click on codes in brackets: European Equities speed guide................... FTSEurofirst 300 index.............................. DJ STOXX index...................................... Top 10 STOXX sectors........................... Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors...................... Top 10 Eurofirst 300 sectors................... Top 25 European pct gainers....................... Top 25 European pct losers........................ Main stock markets: Dow Jones............... Wall Street report ..... Nikkei 225............. Tokyo report............ FTSE 100............... London report........... Xetra DAX............. Frankfurt market stories CAC-40................. Paris market stories... World Indices...................................... Reuters survey of world bourse outlook.......... Western European IPO diary........................... European Asset Allocation......................... Reuters News at a Glance: Equities............... Main currency report:............................... Keywords: MARKETS EUROPE STOCKS/ =2

(joanne.frearson@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 2773, Reuters Messaging:joanne.frearson.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

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