* STOXX 600 ends 1.1 pct lower
* UniCredit drags banks down as cash call nears
* M&A talk lifts Vodafone, Atkins WS
* Commodities among top fallers (ADVISORY- Follow European and UK stock markets in real time onthe Reuters Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets) Adds details, updates prices)
By Danilo Masoni
MILAN, Jan 30 (Reuters) - European shares ended lower onMonday, weighed down by losses among commodities-related stocksand financials, though speculation about merger and acquisitionactivity offered some support with Vodafone among theleading gainers.
Vodafone rose 1.3 percent after the British phone group saidit was in talks to merge its Indian unit with Idea inan all-share deal that could help counter fierce competition.
"Something had to be done and this merger might be the wayto strengthen Vodafone's hand in the Indian price war," said ETXCapital analyst Neil Wilson.
However, the STOXX 600 closed 1.1 percent lower,the biggest one-day drop since November, with the mood amonginvestors dampened after U.S President Donald Trump introduced atravel ban, increasing concerns about the impact of his policieson global trade and the economy.
But despite those losses, the pan-European index is still up0.3 percent so far in January and set for its third straightmonth of gains.
The surge seen in recent weeks had reflected optimism overTrump's plans to boost the economy with tax cuts andderegulation, as well as a good start to the earnings season andgrowing merger speculation.
On Monday M&A talk lifted shares in British engineering firmAtkins WS, which jumped 6 percent on a report of a $4billion merger approach from U.S. company CH2M.
But the M&A-related optimism was more than offset byweakness among oil and gas and mining stocks,both down more than 2 percent, after crude prices fell andcopper eased below eight-week peaks. (MET/L]
Oil majors BP, Total and Royal Dutch Shell were down between 1.1 and 2.2 percent, while oilproducts storage company Vopak and refiner Neste, down 7 percent and 2 percent respectively, were bothhit by a Goldman Sachs downgrade to sell.
But an upgrade to buy from UBS lifted shares in Germany'sSoftware, which surged 5.5 percent to top gainers onthe STOXX.
Banks were dragged down by a 5.5 percent drop inUniCredit. Italy's biggest bank said its end-2016capital ratios would not meet requirements set by the EuropeanCentral Bank as it prepares to launch a 13-billion euro rightsissue to boost its financial strength.
UniCredit put pressure on the FTSE MIB,down 3 percent, making the Italian blue chip index the biggestfaller among major national indexes in Europe. Italian banks fell nearly 4 percent to a six-week low. (Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Gareth Jonesand Pritha Sarkar)
BP (BP.)
Vodafone (VOD)
