LONDON (Reuters) - European equities retreated from a 15-month high to finish lower on Tuesday as a disappointing start of the earnings season in the United States and China's surprise move to raise bank reserve requirements hurt sentiment.The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares provisionally closed 0.9 percent lower at 1,053.99 points after rising to its highest in more than 15 months in the previous session. The index rose 26 percent in 2009 and has surged 63 percent since hitting a record low in March last year.

Commodity shares were among the top decliners, with BHP Billiton (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Anglo American (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Antofagasta (ANTO.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Xstrata (XTA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and ENRC (ENRC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) down 1.7 to 3 percent, on concerns that Chinese tightening could take some of the fizz out of the global economic recovery.

The world's third-largest economy took its strongest step towards tightening monetary policy, surprising investors with a rise in banks' required reserves by 50 basis points, making China one of the largest economies to start rolling back the emergency policies used to combat the crisis fallout.

"If you have a high growth and low interest rate scenario, it's almost an open invitation for an asset bubble. It's a wise thing that China is trying to deal with that before it becomes impossible to manage," said Luc Van Hecka, chief economist at KBC Securities.

Financials also lost ground, with Standard Chartered (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research), Commerzbank (CBKG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), National Bank of Greece (NBGr.AT: Quote, Profile, Research) and Allied Irish Banks (ALBK.I: Quote, Profile, Research) falling 1.2 to 10.8 percent.

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index .FTSE, Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC 40 .FCHI fell 0.7-1.6 percent.