French stocks slide after violent protests

Oct 19 (Reuters) - French equities led losses in Europe on Monday after one of the worst bouts of protest violence in years over the weekend, while broader sentiment was subdued ahead of a busy week of earnings.

The blue-chip CAC 40 index .FCHI slid 1.02% after nationwide protests, triggered by rising prices and worsening public services, rocked the euro zone's second-largest economy as it grapples with weak growth and rising debt.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX was down 0.39% to 642.24 points by 0708 GMT after climbing more than 2% the previous week.

Banks fell the most .SX7E, down 1.4%, with the bank-heavy Spanish benchmark .IBEX down 0.9%.

Investors were also eyeing earnings from European and US corporate giants to help risk appetite after AI-linked stocks sold off last week on concerns over rising debt to fund infrastructure.

Among individual movers, Norway's Mowi .MOWI.OL gained 4.1% after the salmon producer's third quarter harvest volumes hit an all-time high.