Europe shares extend losses as banks, miners weigh

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - European shares extended losses in early trade on Tuesday, with banks and miners the biggest fallers as fears over the extent of a recession in major economies weighed. By 0847 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was down 1.4 percent at 825.42 points after earlier being up as much as 843.21 points.

Banks took most points off the index. HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Banco Santander (SAN.MC: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Dexia (DEXI.BR: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) were down 3.2-9.5 percent.

Miners were in the doldrums as the copper price retreated 1.6 percent. Lonmin (LMI.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was down 7 percent after the group's CEO said it expected a challenging market outlook and saw no material recovery in metals prices until 2010 at earliest. [ID:nWLB3947] (Reporting by Joanne Frearson)

(joanne.frearson@reuters.com; +44 207 542 6437, Reuters Messaging:joanne.frearson.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)