LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - European equities retreated from one-year highs to end lower on Tuesday, pressured by weaker than expected U.S. housing data and with a sharp decline in Barclays on a stake sale by Qatar dragging down financials.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares provisionally closed 0.4 percent lower at 1,022.50 points after hitting a 12-month high of 1,031 earlier in the session.
The index, which slumped 45 percent last year, is still up 23 percent in 2009 and has surged 58 percent since hitting a record low in March this year. But it is down 37 percent from a multi-year high reached in 2007.
Financial stocks took the most points off the index, with Barclays falling 4.7 percent on news Qatar was selling a 1.3 billion pound ($2.1 billion) stake in the British bank.
Other banks were also down, with HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Agricole, Natixis and Credit Suisse falling 0.2 to 2.8 percent.
Figures showed new construction of U.S. homes rose by less than expected in September, held back by a plunge in ground-breaking activity for multi-family homes.
"Everything that derails the view that the worst is behind us and that the economy will grow strongly in 2010 can hurt the market. Today we saw that the U.S. housing data was not that fantastic," said Philippe Gijsels, senior strategist at Fortis BNP in Brussels." (Reporting by Atul Prakash)