Commodities

LONDON (ShareCast) - Europe's main markets closed in the red for the first time this week, with oil and banking shares leading the fallers.

Across the markets, the German DAX closed down 17 points at 5,641 with the French CAC falling 14 points to 3,756. The Swiss market has fallen 17 points to 6,260.

Energy shares were among the main fallers as crude oil futures continued to drop. Royal Dutch Shell (Amsterdam: RDSA.AS - news) and France's Total were both lower.

Banks were also on offer, with BNP Paribas (Paris: FR0000131104 - news) , Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) and UBS (Virt-X: UBSN.VX - news) all down.

In corporate news, French luxury goods group PPR (Paris: FR0000121485 - news) said it will list its CFAO unit on Euronext Paris by the end of the year, subject to favourable market conditions.

'This project is a further step in PPR's growth strategy to focus on a coherent group of internationally recognized lifestyle brands, both in the broader consumer and luxury markets,' said chairman and chief executive Francois-Henri Pinault.

Irish airline Aer Lingus (LSE: AERL.L - news) is to axe a further 676 jobs as part of a swingeing cost cutting programme designed to reduce operating costs by €97m by the end of 2011.

The job cuts are in addition to 100 staff on fixed term contracts who will leave at the end of the year. The airline said it hopes to save €74m a year from 2011 from these staff cuts, with approximately 80% of these savings accruing in 2010 and the full savings coming in 2011.

Fellow carrier Air France (Paris: FR0000031122 - news) -KLM was lower after it saw passenger traffic fall 3.7% year on year in September.

Eurozone GDP in the second quarter shrank by a larger-than-expected 0.2% in the second quarter, according to Eurostat's second estimate.

In the US, aluminium giant Alcoa (NYSE: AA - news) will kick off the third quarter earnings season late on Wednesday.

CAC 40 (Paris: news) - Risers Lagardere SCA (MMB) € 33.90 +5.02% Alcatel (Paris: FR0000130007 - news) -Lucent (ALU) € 3.19 +3.78% EADS (Paris: NL0000235190 - news) (EAD) € 14.87 +2.30% Unibail-Rodamco (UL) € 145.85 +1.85% Renault (RNO) € 32.34 +1.65% LVMH (MC) € 69.59 +1.58% Saint Gobain (Paris: FR0000125007 - news) (SGO) € 36.68 +1.40% Accor (Paris: FR0000120404 - news) (AC) € 37.67 +0.91% Lafarge (Paris: FR0000120537 - news) (LG (003550.KS - news) ) € 61.13 +0.91% Schneider Electric (Paris: FR0000121972 - news) (SU) € 70.26 +0.76%

CAC 40 - Fallers Societe Generale (GLE) € 50.50 -5.94% BNP Paribas (BNP) € 52.93 -1.96% Vallourec (VK) € 113.80 -1.85% Suez Environnement Company (SEV) € 15.22 -1.84% Dexia (DEXB) € 6.11 -1.75% EDF (EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) ) € 38.51 -1.32% PPR (PP) € 89.32 -1.18% Technip (TEC (A067950.KQ - news) ) € 45.12 -1.17% Total (FP) € 39.96 -0.81% Alstom (ALO) € 49.43 -0.76%