LONDON (AFP) - European stock markets fell in early trading, with airline and travel stocks hit badly as New York crude oil futures struck new record high points above 55 dollars a barrel, dealers said.
The London FTSE 100 index eased 0.06 percent to 4,619.70 points, the Frankfurt DAX 30 lost 0.43 percent to 3,905.24 points and the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.33 percent to 3,658.54.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares declined 0.34 percent to 2,763.85 points.
The euro stood at 1.2483 dollars.
"The earnings reports from both sides of the Atlantic will likely remain sidelined by the overarching concerns about oil prices and global growth," said Anais Faraj, investment strategist at Nomura.
World oil prices rose to fresh high points above 55 dollars a barrel Monday on markets worried about low supplies of crude amid strong demand with winter fast approaching in the northern hemisphere.
The price of reference light sweet crude for delivery in November climbed 40 cents to 55.33 dollars a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Wall Street snapped a three-day losing streak on Friday as investors took comfort from Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan's comments that the US economy was able to weather high energy prices.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.39 percent at 9,933.38 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.45 percent to 1,911.50.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index added 0.45 percent to 1,108.20.
Greenspan said on Friday that soaring oil prices should inflict less damage on US economic growth and inflation than the 1970s oil shock.
"The impact of the current surge in oil prices, though noticeable, is likely to prove less consequential to economic growth and inflation than in the 1970s," Greenspan said.
In Europe, airline and travel stocks suffered in the wake of record high oil prices, while insurers continues to struggle after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer last week charged the largest US insurance broker Marsh and McLennan with directing business to insurance companies for illegal payoffs.
In London, British Airways slumped 2.06 percent to 201.75 pence and easyJet lost 1.21 percent to 122.25 pence.
Among British insurance stocks, Prudential gave up 0.76 percent to 458.75 pence and Aviva fell 1.19 percent to 540 pence.
In Frankfurt, German airline Lufthansa declined 1.87 percent to 9.47 euros and TUI, Europe's biggest travel firm, dropped 1.33 percent to 15.54 euros.
In Asia, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei-225 index closed 0.16 percent lower at 10,965.62 points Monday, extending losses for a seventh consecutive session as investors waited for corporate results and China's growth figures due later this week amid soaring oil prices, dealers said.
Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index finished 0.19 percent lower at 13,034.74 points on continued worries over oil prices, which rose to fresh record highs above 55 dollars in Asian trade, dealers said.