European stocks closed lower on Wednesday in thin volumes on the final trading day before Christmas.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 ended 0.5 percent lower at 804.54 points in a truncated session ahead of the Christmas break, as investors' gloom over a shaky economic outlook overshadowed seasonal cheer.
The credit crisis has wiped nearly half the value off European stock markets so far in 2008 as recession infects a host of major economies worldwide, compared to annual gains of1.6 percent in 2007 and 16 percent in 2006.
"There's not much Christmas cheer in the markets....It's been an extremely cheerless and very unrewarding experience over the past year," said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin in London.
"My sincere wish is that we won't have to go through the trauma of another year like this past year...I dread to think how people would respond," Lenhoff added. (Additional reporting by Brian Gorman in London and Blaise Robinson in Paris; Editing by Leslie Adler)
