European shares retreat

European stock markets fell on Monday, with shares in major oil and gas companies losing ground as an oil price rally fizzled out, Reuters reported.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which rose 3 percent on Friday to mark its first weekly gain for 2016, fell 0.7 percent. The FTSEurofirst is down 8 percent since the start of 2016.

The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index and Germany's DAX also both fell by 0.5 percent, with the DAX some 20 percent below a record high reached last April.

Oil prices lost ground, after having rallied 10 percent on Friday. This in turn pushed down the shares of companies such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total.

World stock markets have fallen since the start of 2016, partly due to signs of a slowdown in China, the world's second-biggest economy and a major consumer of oil and metals.

Source: SPA