European shares fall for fifth straight session
LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - European shares slipped for a fifth straight session on Tuesday, tracking losses in the U.S. and Asia, as investors remained worried that big companies might post poor results in the current earnings reporting season.
A sharp decline in crude oil and metal prices also put pressure on commodity stocks, which have a significant weight on the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index.
At 0820 GMT, the index of top European shares was down 1.1 percent at 843.60 points after closing 1.6 percent lower in the previous trading session. The benchmark lost 45 percent in 2008.
Miners retreated, with BHP Billiton (BLT.L), Anglo American (AAL.L), Xstrata (XTA.L), Antofagasta (ANTO.L) and Rio Tinto (RIO.L) falling between 2.6 and 6.2 percent.
Banks were also under pressure. HBOS HBOS.L slipped 2.6 percent, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) fell 3.3 percent and UBS (UBSN.VX) lost 2.7 percent.
"We still see a testing economic and commercial backdrop. We have to get through a very tough earnings season, with a scrutiny of balance sheets in the context of deteriorating environment," said Jonathan Lawlor, head of European research at Fox-Pitt, Kelton.
"We believe regulators and central banks will do everything to avoid a depression and may well in due course move to quantitative easing."
(Reporting by Atul Prakash)
