European shares extend losses on China tightening

(Corrects spelling of "economic" in fourth paragraph)

LONDON Jan 12 (Reuters) - European shares extended losses at around midday on Tuesday, pressured by falls in banks and commodity stocks after China raised its banks' reserve requirements.

At 1114 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index shed 1.1 percent at 1,052.18 points after China's central bank raised its banks' reserve requirement by 0.5 percentage points, a sign it has begun to tighten monetary policy. [ID:nBJC002463]

Banks were among the biggest losers in Europe, with Barclays (BARC.L), HSBC (HSBA.L), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), Societe General (SOGN.PA) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) down 0.5 to 1.1 percent.

Miners, which have been benefitted from China's economic boom, were also weaker, with Rio Tinto (RIO.L), BHP Billiton (BLT.L) and Vedanta Resources (VED.L) down 2.4-3.7 percent.

"The miners were weak anyway and the market was weak. That news just provides the catalyst for people to take some money off the table," said Jawaid Afsar, trader at Securequity. (Reporting by Harpreet Bhal and Dominic Lau)