PARIS, Nov 12 (Reuters) - European stocks dropped in early trade on Friday, losing ground for the third straight session, hurt by escalating fears over Ireland's debt problems that also dragged the euro to six-week lows versus the dollar.
At 0803 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 1.4 percent to 1,093.43 points.
European Union leaders sought to ease investors' concerns about Ireland's ability to pay its debt on Friday, saying in a statement issued at the Group of 20 summit in Seoul that in the event of a restructuring of any EU state's debt, investors would not be forced to take a writedown on the value of their bondholdings.
"The CDS market has been sending warning signals on Ireland for a while, but the contagion to stocks has taken some time. Here it is now," Louis Capital Market analyst Jacques Henry said. "There has been an excess of optimism in equities lately and the market was ripe for a correction."
Banking stocks featured among the top losers, with UniCredit down 3.7 percent, Credit Agricole down 2.7 percent and Banco Santander down 2.4 percent. (Reporting by Blaise Robinson)