REFILE-Banks, oils push Europe shares to 3-wk closing low

(Corrects to remove superfluous "after" in first paragraph)

* FTSEurofirst 300 down 1.6 pct; hits 3-week closing low

* Financial shares among top decliners; oils slip

* Miners track weaker metals prices; Lonmin down 8 percent

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - European equities hit a three-week closing low on Thursday, a day after recording the best quarterly gains in a decade, with a slew of poor data reigniting worries about the pace of economic recovery.

The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares closed 1.6 percent lower at 981.70 points. The index, which slumped 45 percent last year, rose 17 percent in the third quarter and has surged 52 percent since a hitting a lifetime low in March.

Banks suffered heavily on the day, with Standard Chartered (STAN.L), HSBC (HSBA.L), Barclays (BARC.L), Lloyds (LLOY.L), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) and Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) down 1.9 to 4.5 percent.

Erste Group Bank (ERST.VI) fell 6.4 percent on talk the Austrian bank may join peers and launch a 1 billion euro ($1.5 billion) rights issue to prop up its capital.[ID:nL1550809]

"We saw an upswing in the market during the late summer and now consolidation tendencies are coming down the road," said Achim Matzke, a strategist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

"Things are not moving so fast and economic figures show that the recovery is not that aggressive."

Optimism over the rise in U.S. consumer spending, which normally accounts for over two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, was clouded by reports showing a rise in the number of people applying for first-time unemployment benefits last week and a below-forecast expansion in manufacturing activity last month.

A report from the U.S. Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 551,000 last week from 534,000 the previous week, more than analysts' expectations for 530,000. [ID:nN01395512]

Separately, the Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity eased to 52.6 in September from 52.9 in August. The median forecast of 75 economists surveyed by Reuters was for a reading of 54.

UNDER PRESSURE

Miners also came under pressure as metals prices fell sharply on concerns about demand for goods such as copper and aluminium. BHP Billiton (BLT.L), Anglo American (AAL.L), Antofagasta (ANTO.L), Rio Tinto (RIO.L), Xstrata (XTA.L) and Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC.L) fell 3.8 to 5.5 percent.

Lonmin (LMI.L) fell 8 percent, weighed down by a Deutsche Bank downgrade to "sell" from "hold".

Energy shares fell after crude prices CLc1 slipped 1.5 percent below $70 a barrel. BP (BP.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), BG Group (BG.L), Tullow Oil (TLW.L), Repsol (REP.MC), Total (TOTF.PA) and StatoilHydro (STL.OL) shed 0.4 to 2.2 percent.

"Probably the biggest driving force behind the weakness today has been the ... nagging worry that maybe stock markets have got ahead of themselves again," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index. "Friday sees the latest U.S. unemployment numbers released, so a degree of nervousness ahead of these is also not too much of a surprise," Jones added.

U.S. non-farm payroll data is expected to show the rate of job losses slowing but unemployment still creeping up.

Among individual stock movers, Tandberg TAA.OL jumped 11 percent on news Cisco (CSCO.O) has agreed to buy the Norwegian videoconferencing company for $3 billion in cash. [ID:nL1456988]

BAE Systems (BAES.L), Europe's largest defence contractor, fell 4.4 percent after Britain's Serious Fraud Office said it intends to seek the Attorney General's consent to prosecute the company on bribery charges.

Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index .FTSE, Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC 40 .FCHI fell 1.7 to 2.1 percent. (Editing by David Holmes)