The plummeting oil prices dragged down major European stock prices to their new lows in weeks on Thursday.

In London, stocks ended at three week lows, weighed down by a falls in oil shares after Wednesday's steep fall in crude prices, with the FTSE 100 closing 23.40 points lower at 5,269.30, in which RoyalDutch Shell and BP were the big fallers downing 2.63 percent and 2.28 percent respectively.

On the upside, Shire Pharmaceuticals was the biggest winner jumping 6.5 percent amid talk of a deal with a US firm for one of its hyperactivity treatments.

Royal Bank of Scotland rose 1.68 percent as it agreed a deal to take a 10 percent stake in the Bank of China.

In Paris, French shares drifted lower on the day as falling oil prices dragged oil firms such as Total lower.

The CAC 40 index dipped 9.56 points, or 0.22 percent, to close at 4,430.07.

Shares in Total fell 1.15 percent, or 2.40 points, to 206.90 euros as crude oil prices fell by 3 dollars a barrel. Other losers included Suez and Thomson.

In Frankfurt, German share prices fell on Thursday as oil prices went down, with the DAX index ended the session down 0.41 percent, or 20.19 points, to 4,851.27.

Shares in utility RWE fell after the City of Dsseldorf said it might sell its stake in RWE. Other losers included Allianz, BASF and Siemens.

Meanwhile, one notable gainer was chip firm Infineon, which rose 1.54 percent after a press report said it might spin off its memory chip unit in 2005.

In the currency market, the US dollar gained over the euro ending at 1.2182 to a euro from previously 1.2265, and the dollar also climbed a little higher over the Japanese yen at one dollar to 110.51 yen from formerly 109.87.

The dollar also proved to be winner over the British pound ending the session at 1.7946 to a pound from 1.8053.

Source: Xinhua