Europe shares close lower, led down by oils and pharmas
* FTSEurofirst 300 falls 0.2 percent
* Oils fall after crude slides
* Low volumes in last full day before Christmas break
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - European shares fell on Tuesday, with drug stocks falling and a late dip in the crude price hurting oils, while banks and utilities rose, but with volumes low in the last full trading day ahead of the Christmas break.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.2 percent to close at 808.35 points, the fifth successive session of decline.
Crude oil CLc1 fell in late trade, down $1.68 at $38.23 a barrel, extending Monday's losses. Crude is down 74 percent on its July peak. Oil shares, which had boosted the index earlier in the session, finished mostly lower. Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Repsol (REP.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) and Statoil (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) fell between 1.3 and 2 percent.
Among utilities, shares in GDF Suez (GSZ.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Veolia (VIE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) were up 3 and 6.1 percent respectively. Continued...
One Year Later
A look back at the events of 26/11 ahead of the first anniversary of the militant attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people. Slideshow | Full Coverage
