month September Brent was 23 cents a barrel lower at $39.80, having hit a 14-year high of $40.50 on Friday. Stocks also weakened on falls in several banking groups. Shares in UK group HBOS fell on worries it may bid for British peer Abbey National to rival the agreed takeover by Spain's Santander Hispano announced last week. Shares in French banking group BNP Paribas fell after second-quarter profit figures, while Dutch bank ABN AMRO also slipped after its second-quarter profit figures. A trader said its results lacked quality as they were boosted by lower loan provisions and a lower tax rate. Banks account for about 21 percent of the FTSE Eurotop 300 stock index. The FTSE Eurotop 300 index was down 0.5 percent. The narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 1.1 percent. In Tokyo, the Nikkei fell 103.54 points to 11,222.24, paring Friday's 1.88 percent gain. The broader Japanese TOPIX index was off 0.32 percent at 1,135.64, with rises in shipping firms and utilities preventing it from falling further. In debt markets, euro zone government bonds fell. The interest-rate sensitive two-year Schatz yield was down 5.0 percent at 2.572 percent. The 10-year Bund yield was down 2.3 basis points at 4.191 percent. In the currency markets, the dollar was down 0.4 percent on the day against the euro at $1.2062 while it was down about a third of a percentage point against the Japanese yen at 111.09 yen, and down 0.4 percentage points against sterling at 1.8271.
