European shares fall as hurricane batters insurers

European stocks fell, led by insurers on expectations the sector will see profits hit hard by clean-up costs resulting from a huge hurricane nearing the United States.

Reinsurers Swiss Re and Hannover RE led a weaker European insurance sector index as the market tried to predict the eventual damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, which has forced Wall Street to shut.

"We are seeing insurers slide and we've sold a bit of Aviva and RSA," Ed Woolfitt, head of trading at Galvan Research, said. "(It's all) tentative at the moment until we can gauge how much of an impact it is really going to have."

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The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 provisionally closed 0.4 percent lower at 1,093.46 points in volume of around half its 90-day moving average.