* FTSEurofirst falls 0.6 pct
* Banks take most points off index; broker downgrades
* For up-to-the-minute stocks news, click on []
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - European shares fell back on
Thursday from a closing 15-month high, with banks falling after
a broker downgrade and as China tightened its grip on liquidity,
and ahead of the Bank of England's decision on interest rates.
At 0907 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was down 0.6 percent at 1,054.42 points, having
hit a 15-month closing high on Wednesday.
The European benchmark is still up more than 63 percent from
its lifetime low of March 9 2009.
The heavyweight banking sector took most points off the
index. Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods downgraded the
European banking sector to "neutral".
"We see limited growth opportunities," said the broker in a
note. "We also feel that 2010 and 2011 EPS upgrades for the
banks came through with such gusto in 4Q09 that there isn't as
much left in the tank for 1Q10 surprises."
Credit Agricole <CAGR.PA>, down 1.6 percent, was among those
it downgraded.
Banco Santander <SAN.MC>, Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE>, HSBC
<HSBA.L>, Standard Chartered <STAN.L> and UBS <UBSN.VX> fell
between 0.6 and 2.8 percent.
On Wall Street, the S&P <.SPX> also hit another 15-month
high on Wednesday.
However, Asian markets fell on Thursday after China's
central bank tightened its grip on liquidity. []
"Markets may take a breather today, but that's a buying
opportunity," said Franz Wenzel, strategist at AXA Investment
Managers in Paris.
"Growth is recovering and we think the reporting season,
which starts next week, will be good. The European markets are
still following the U.S. master."
Miners fell back as copper prices retreated from 16-month
highs, and gold fell. A stronger dollar helped to dent prices.
Anglo American <AAL.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, BHP Billiton
<BLT.L>, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp.<ENRC.L>, Lonmin
<LMI.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> fell between 0.9
and 2 percent.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <> down 0.4 percent,
France's CAC 40 <> and Germany's DAX <> were down 0.9
and 0.6 percent respectively.
TATE & LYLE FALLS
Sugar refiner and sweetener group Tate & Lyle <TATE.L> fell
6.4 percent after Credit Suisse downgraded it to "neutral" from
"outperform".
Supermarket group J Sainsbury <SBRY.L> rose 1.9 percent
after beating third-quarter sales growth forecasts, as rising
customer numbers and strong sales of non-food ranges offset
lower food price inflation.
The Bank of England is likely to announce at 1200 GMT that
it is keeping interest rates on hold at 0.5 percent, and
maintaining the quantitative easing programme level at 200
billion pounds of asset purchases.
Later, investors' attention will switch to the United
States, where weekly jobless claims data is due.
(Editing by Mike Nesbit)
