European shares slip to first monthly loss in over a year

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - European shares fell on Friday, closing a volatile quarter with their first monthly loss in over a year, as investors worried about a future reduction in U.S. monetary easing.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 reversed early gains to close 0.4 percent lower at 1,152.36 points on Friday, ending June with its first monthly loss since May 2012 and its first quarterly loss in a year.

The quarter has been rocked by talk of conclusion to the U.S. Federal Reserve's open-ended bond-buying programme -- a prospect that contributed to a 5.2 percent fall for the FTSEurofirst 300 in June.

Concerns over the programme were reignited on Friday by Fed official Jeremy Stein, who said the central bank should take a long-term view that the labour market is improving when it meets in September even if jobs data disappoints, perhaps bolstering the case for withdrawing some stimulus by summer's end.

"Stein spoke very hawkishly... and since that we've seen the market has dropped off," Mark Foulds, sales trader at ETX Capital, said.

"People do still see value, but the problem is that so much of it is still dependent on talk over whether the Fed will continue with its stimulus or slow it imminently."