European shares turn negative; banks fall

LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - European shares turned sharply negative on Thursday morning, with banks falling after Greece's financial position appeared to deteriorate.

The Eurostat revised up Greece's budget deficit by nearly a full point to 13.6 percent of gross domestic product last year. [ID:nLDE63L0TY]

At 0942 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was down 0.7 percent at 1,088.83 points.

"It's carnage all of a sudden and it's all to do with Greece. The spreads are widening again and all the banks have been bashed lower," a London-based trader said.

BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Banco Santander (SAN.MC), Barclays (BARC.L) and BBVA (BBVA.MC), fell between 1.7 and 3.4 percent.

Greek banks .FTATBNK fell 3.5 percent. (Reporting by Brian Gorman and Harpreet Bhal)