European stocks jump into Q4 but Spanish banks sink on Catalan vote

LONDON, Oct (Shenzhen: 000069.SZ - news) 2 (Reuters) - Spanish stocks sank on Monday after a violent referendum in Catalonia, underperforming the wider European market as political uncertainty dented bank shares.

The pan-European STOXX 600 jumped into the fourth quarter with a 0.3 percent gain, boosted by strong travel stocks and a mining sector supported by better metals prices.

But Spain's IBEX fell 1.2 percent after Catalans defied a police crackdown to vote for independence in a referendum the Spanish government said was unconstitutional.

Spanish banks opened sharply lower, down between 1.8 and 3.2 percent, leading the IBEX down, with shares in Catalonia-headquartered Banco Sabadell and Caixabank (Amsterdam: CB6.AS - news) the worst-performing.

On the STOXX, ballpoint pen and razor maker BIC (EUREX: 512380.EX - news) sank 10 percent after shaving its 2017 sales forecast due to weaker than expected performance in U.S. and Latin American markets.

EasyJet (Frankfurt: A1JTC1 - news) , Ryanair and Lufthansa were among top gainers, up between 2.9 and 5 percent after Monarch Airlines went bust, prompting Britain's biggest-ever peacetime repatriation effort to return thousands of stranded passengers.

Reports last week said easyJet and Wizz Air (Frankfurt: WI2.F - news) were in talks to take over some of Monarch's short-haul network. Travel and leisure stocks jumped 1.2 percent on the prospect of airlines carving up Monarch's assets.

Gjensidige Forsikring (LSE: 0OJC.L - news) shares gained 3.5 percent after DNB (LSE: 0O84.L - news) raised the insurer to a "buy", saying its current discount to peers was unwarranted.

Aggreko (Frankfurt: A1XFZR - news) sank 5.9 percent after Berenberg cut it to a "sell".

(Reporting by Helen Reid)