* FTSEurofirst slumps 4.8 percent

* Banks fall after government intervention

* Oils tumble on lower crude prices

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - European shares fell sharply in early trade on Monday, with banks worst hit after further measures to bail out major financial companies over the weekend, and following a decline on Wall Street on Friday.

At 0818 GMT, the FTSEurofirst .FTEU3 index of leading European shares was down 4.8 percent at 1,037.36 points, with just three gainers among its 312 stocks. The benchmark is down more than 30 percent so far this year.

Banks took the most points off the index, with BNP Paribas BNPP.PA down 3.4 percent, Credit Agricole CAGR.PA falling 6.8 percent, Dexia DEXI.BR slipping 11.2 percent and Societe Generale SOGN.PA shedding 6.4 percent.

Commerzbank CBKG.DE tumbled 15.7 percent on big volumes. HBOS HBOS.L, due to be taken over by Lloyds TSB, was down 14 percent. Lloyds fell 5.8 percent.

“Obviously there’s a negative read from the poor performance on Wall Street on Friday. There is no doubt the unemployment position there is looking pretty poor. The economy has lost jobs for the last nine months. It’s a miserable state of affairs,” said Henk Potts, strategist at Barclays stockbrokers.

“And then you add to that the banking problems we’ve seen over the weekend.”

BNP Paribas BNPP.PA, France's biggest listed bank, said it was paying 14.5 billion euros ($20.1 billion) to take control of European financial group Fortis FOR.BR. Trading in Fortis shares was suspended on Euronext Amsterdam. [ID:nL6316554]

Over the weekend, German officials clinched a renewed rescue deal for property lender Hypo Real Estate HRXG.DE and UniCredit CRDI.MI, Italy's second-biggest bank, announced plans to raise new capital.

But Hypo Real shares were down 26 percent after slumping as much as 48 percent in early trade.

Germany also offered a blanket bank deposit guarantee and South Korea pledged to use its $240 billion in official reserves to help its banks secure enough foreign currency liquidity.

“European governments are looking to stabilise the financial sector by attempting to rescue some major institutions. Whilst their actions are understandable, the smell of desperation remains strong,” said Chris Hossain, senior sales manager at ODL Securities.

A $700 billion package to rescue the U.S. financial sector, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on its second try on Friday and signed by President George W. Bush into law, also failed to cheer investors.

"There's uncertainty over the price at which assets are going to be bought. And the reality is that it will take some time to see the benefit, and there's uncertainty on how quickly the banks will lend to each other," said Barclays' Potts. Across Europe, Germany's DAX index .GDAXI fell 4 percent, UK's FTSE 100 index .FTSE slipped 4.1 percent and France's CAC 40 .FCHI shed 4.8 percent.

Oils were another notable casualty, with crude prices CLc1 falling as much as 4 percent to below $90 a barrel, on worries of weaker demand. Total TOTF.PA, ENI ENI.MI, BP BP.L, and Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L all fell between 4.1 and 4.7 percent.

A stronger dollar led lower metals prices, hurting mining shares. UBS and Merrill Lynch issued downbeat notes on the sector, cutting their forecasts for metals prices, and lowering price targets for shares.

Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. ENRC.L fell 15.3 percent. Anglo American AAL.L, Antofagasta ANTO.L, BHP Billiton BLT.L, Kazakhmys KAZ.L, Rio Tinto RIO.L, Vedanta Resources VED.L, Xstrata XTA.L all fell more than 8 percent.