By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks fell Monday, with poor data from Asia and bleak comments about the eurozone prompting investors to push the equity market away from multiyear highs.

In addition to weak updates from Asia's two largest economies, figures from Germany released Monday showed industrial production in Europe's biggest economy expanded less than expected in October. Output rose by 0.2%, missing a 0.3% forecast from economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

Ewald Nowotny, a member of the governing council at the European Central Bank, said Monday the eurozone is undergoing "massive weakening" and that inflation could fall even further in the first quarter of 2015. The eurozone is the weak spot in the global economy, and it's worth the ECB discussing government-bond purchases to aid the currency union, Nowotny said, according to media reports.

Markets: The euro (EURUSD) fell to its lowest level against the dollar since August 2012 on Monday following Nowotny's comments in Frankfurt. The shared currency fell to as low as $1.2252, down from $1.2289 on Friday. Germany's DAX 30 was down 0.3% at 10,059.60.

The Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 0.4% to 349.66, in broad-based losses led by the consumer-products and basic-materials groups. The index on Friday jumped by 1.8% to 350.97, marking its strongest closing level since early January 2008.

But this week started with losses after a report showed imports into China -- a major buyer of commodities -- unexpectedly fell in November by 6.7%. That compares with expectations for 3% growth. Among miners, Anglo American PLC fell 1%, Rio Tinto PLC 0.(RIO) gave up 0.6%, and Glencore PLC moved 0.5% lower.

"While lower commodity prices may have placed a downward bias on the import number, the extent of the negative surprise, coupled with the overvalued [yuan], suggests there was in fact a real element of much slower domestic demand," said Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist, at RBC Capital Markets, in a note.

In Paris, the CAC 40 declined 0.4% to 4,400.26, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.7% to 6,696.14. Italy's FTSE MIB was pulled 0.3% lower to 20,028. After trading closed on Friday, Standard & Poor's cut Italy's long- and short-term credit rating to a notch above junk status, to BBB-/A-3 from BBB/A-2. The move reflects recurring weakness in Italy's real and nominal GDP performance, which the agency said is "undermining the sustainability of the country's public debt."

Meanwhile, the Japanese economy during the third quarter shrank more than initially estimated, contracting an annualized 1.9% from the previous three-month period. The government last month estimated contraction at a rate of 1.6%.

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