European shares fell on Thursday mainly led by banking shares.Housing data lead U.S. stock market turn negative and pulled European shares to intra-day lows.European markets trim some losses as crude oil rose $1.63 to close at $65.08 a barrel on the back of a bigger than expected fall in U.S. crude oil inventories which lifted US markets also.

Banking stocks closed lower with shares of Royal Bank of Scotland Group down 4.6 percent , Barclays down 1.03 percent,KBC down 6.2 percent,Deutsche Bank down 3.7 percent, and Swedbank down 3.3 percent.European insurers ING Group was down 5.9 percent, AXA down 4 percent.ArcelorMittal gained 3.5 percent,Sanofi-Aventis gained 1.4 percent.Shares of building-materials supplier Wolseley closed down 18.2 percent.Shares of Man Group closed down 6.9 percent.

FTSE 100 index ended down 0.65 percent down 28.69 points to 4387.54,Germany's DAX closed down 1.36 percent down 67.89 points to 4932.88,France's CAC 40 down 0.95 percent down 31.16 points to 3263.7.

Gold prices edged higher.Crude oil rose $1.63 to settle at $65.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Gold gained to settle at $963 an ounce.
Thursday,28 May 2009