* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.9 percent; hits 3-week lows
* Financials slip as euro zone debt troubles linger
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on
By Harpreet Bhal
LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - Resurfacing euro zone debt concerns hit European shares on Monday, with recent falls nudging a key index into negative territory for the year, from which it is unlikely to significantly rebound in the near-term.
Analysts expect trading in equity markets to remain in a sideways range in the coming weeks, as leading indicators soften and corporate earnings momentum slows, and as traders price-in a higher likelihood of monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve towards the end of the year.
By 1101 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.9 percent at 1,121.04 points after hitting a three-week intraday low earlier in the session.
The index also slipped into slight negative territory for the year, having been heavily in the red in mid March following unrest in the Middle East and an earthquake in Japan.
Financials were the worst hit, with the European banking index falling 1.7 percent and the Thomson Reuters Peripheral Banking index down 3.3 percent, with sentiment knocked by a newspaper report that Greece had asked to restructure its debt. The country's finance ministry, however, later denied the report.
Investors also worried that Portugal's bailout negotiations may come under pressure after an anti-euro party in Finland, that has vowed to veto the pending rescue, recorded strong gains in an election.
"Concerns about the debt situation in the euro zone periphery are far from behind us and there is a notion that this bull market since mid 2009 has been largely due to central bank inflationary intervention, which is unsustainable in the long run," a London-based equity trader said.
"There is also a high probability of the market being range bound for weeks to come. (But) a break below these levels for more than a couple of days might point to a topped out market and the beginning of a more sustained downtrend."
Strong gains from late last year helped the FTSEurofirst 300 post three straight monthly gains before the rally faltered in March. The index is down almost 6 percent from 29-month highs hit in mid February.
"This looks like a classic mid-cycle pause, where the early stage of the expansion has slowed, prior to a further upleg. However, this hiatus has been marked by a move into a stagflation regime, according to our framework," David Shairp, global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management wrote in a note.
"In addition, correlations between equity and bond returns have reversed again recently and become more negative, which hardly inspires confidence."
EARNINGS PROMPT NERVES
Some uncertainty over the strength of corporate earnings this quarter prevailed ahead of results from U.S. bank Citigroup , which is expected to report a drop in quarterly profit on an uncertain trading environment and weak consumer loan demand.
Rivals JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America both struggled with shrinking loan books and falling revenue in the first quarter.
Among major individual fallers, index heavyweight Nestle dropped 3.9 percent after the world's biggest food group agreed to take a 60 percent stake in China's Yinlu Foods Group, in a deal that analysts said could face regulatory scrutiny.
Helping to limit further falls, Synthes rose 6.1 percent to the top of the leaderboard as it confirmed it was in talks with Johnson & Johnson after reports the group was looking to buy the company for about $20 billion. (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)