Europe stocks down for 3rd week, commodities weigh

* FTSEurofirst 300 index down 0.1 pct; falls for 3rd week

* Banks top gainers in thin trade, utilities leading losers

* Strategists see no decisive trend change next week

By Peter Starck FRANKFURT, July 3 (Reuters) - European stocks fell on Friday, recording their third straight week of losses, led by utilities, oil & gas and basic resources while banks and media pulled in the opposite direction.

Volumes were thin in the absence of U.S. market participants due to the extended Fourth of July weekend.

"With U.S. markets closed today for the Independence Day holidays we have seen the major indexes lack direction," CMC Markets said in a note.

"Major stock specific stories have also been hard to come by today," CMC Markets added.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index closed 0.1 percent lower at 842.52 points. It lost 0.2 percent over the week and has fallen 5.1 percent since its five-month high close on June 11.

Utilities shaved most points off the index on Friday. EDF (EDF.PA) fell 4.5 percent after Morgan Stanley downgraded its rating to "equal weight" from "overweight". UBS and Citigroup trimmed their price target on the EDF stock.

Also in the sector, E.ON (EONGn.DE) dropped 1.2 percent and GDF Suez (GSZ.PA) lost 0.6 percent.

Weaker oil [ID:nSYD475678] and copper [ID:nL3514680] prices weighed on oil & gas .SXEP and basic resources stocks .SXPP amid renewed doubts about the outlook for economic growth triggered by weaker-than-expected U.S. June jobs data on Thursday. [ID:nN02549309]

Banks added the most points, with Barclays (BARC.L) up 2.8 percent, Banco Santander (SAN.MC) gaining 2.2 percent, BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) adding 2 percent, HSBC (HSBA.L) rising 1.7 percent and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) putting on 1.7 percent.

Media stocks advanced after Credit Suisse upgraded the European sector to "overweight" from "underweight". The DJ Stoxx media index .SXMP rose 0.5 percent.

Wolters Kluwer (WLSNc.AS) jumped 4.3 percent and Reed Elsevier (REL.L) climbed 3.9 percent.

The DJ EuroSTOXX 50 index .STOXX50E of European blue chips squeezed in a gain of 0.3 percent to 2,376.48 points.