Europe: Shares slip as oil price rally fizzles out

[LONDON] European shares fell on Monday, with shares in major oil and gas companies losing ground as an oil price rally fizzled out.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which rose 3 per cent on Friday to mark its first weekly gain for 2016, fell 0.3 per cent. Britain's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX also both fell by 0.1 per cent.

Oil prices lost ground, after having rallied 10 per cent on Friday. The shares of companies such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total were lower.

However, Italian bank stocks rose, led by Monte Paschi .

Monte Paschi, whose shares touched record lows last week, climbed 5.3 per cent after its chairman told an Italian newspaper that the bank did not need a cash call and had a very strong liquidity position.

REUTERS