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Nov 29 (Reuters) - European shares edged lower for the
second straight session on Friday, as investors feared a new
U.S. law backing protesters in Hong Kong would cloud the
prospects of a preliminary Sino-U.S. trade deal.
On Thursday, China warned of "firm counter measures" to the
law supporting anti-government protesters in Hong Kong. The
editor of China's state-backed Global Times tabloid said later
in a tweet those could include barring drafters of the
legislation from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX was down 0.4% at
0806 GMT, but still on track for its best week in three after a
boost from positive headlines on trade earlier in the week.
Shares of Norway's largest bank DNB DNB.OL fell 3.4% after
police said they were investigating to establish whether any
laws were broken in its handling of payments from an Icelandic
fisheries firm to Namibia. Frankfurt-listed shares .GDAXI dropped 0.4%, as data
showed German retail sales dipped in October, suggesting private
consumption in Europe's largest economy took a pause before the
Christmas shopping season. Traders are now awaiting a raft of economic indicators
including the euro zone unemployment rate for October and
preliminary GDP figures for the fourth quarter from Italy.