Investors cashed in profits after new concerns surfaced that Greece would not be able to secure private creditors' support for its debt restructuring programme, while worries about slowing economic growth in China, Europe and Brazil weighed on sentiment. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed down 2.4 percent at 1,054.63 points after hitting its lowest level since early-February at 1,053.86 points. "The market appears to have gotten a bit ahead of itself in recent weeks," Markus Huber, head of German trading at ETX Capital, said, adding that as long as uncertainty around Greece remained, markets continue to be vulnerable to the downside. Euro zone banks, which own a large share of the area's sovereign debt and are poised to suffer from a weak economy, as well as the auto sector, which depends heavily on the global economy, were among the biggest decliners.