Euro Shares Close Lower as Banks Weigh

European shares unofficially closed 1.5 percent lower on Thursday, with banks hit by doubts about the U.S. government plan to prop up the financial system, while poor results hit Cap Gemini and BT.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index unofficially ended at 791.26 points after earlier falling as low as 784 points.

Equities worldwide extended their previous day's losses as investors lamented the lack of detail provided in a $2 trillion U.S. bank rescue plan announced earlier this week by the U.S. government.

"It is general concern that this is not going to be the measure which markets hoped for, that it's not going to be the magic bullet," Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank in London, said of the U.S. rescue plan.

Wall Street indexes fell between about 1 and 2 percent on Thursday.

Among European banks, BNP Paribas lost 7.5 percent, Barclays shed more than 3 percent and UBS lost nearly 4 percent.

Capgemini topped the losers. Europe's largest computer consultancy sank 9 percent after warning the global economic slump would eat into sales and margins in the first half of this year.

BT Group slid 7.8 percent after it said third-quarter core earnings fell 9 percent due to problems at its Global Services unit.

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