By Sitaraman Shankar
LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - European shares fell on Thursday,
led by insurer Axa <AXAF.PA> and drug and chemical group Bayer
<BAYG.DE>, as mixed company results unnerved investors already
fretting about the U.S. economy.
At 0941 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was down 0.8 percent at 1,347.94 points.
Axa and Bayer fell more than 2.5 percent after updates that
disappointed investors, while mining group Xstrata <XTA.L> slid
4.5 percent as a source close to the situation said Vale's
<VALE5.SA> bid for the group had run into trouble.
Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>, Britain's second-biggest
bank which last year led a takeover of ABN AMRO, fell initially
but then rose 1.2 percent after posting in-line earnings and
raising its dividend.
But other banks were largely lower, with UBS <UBSN.VX>, ING
<ING.AS> and BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA> down 1.6 to 2.4 percent.
Brewer InBev <INTB.BR> rose 8 percent to top European
winners after its results, and British American Tobacco <BATS.L>
tacked on 2.4 percent.
"The corporate earnings season has been very mixed, with
consumer stocks under pressure and financials doing better than
expected other than those close to the housing market," said
Andrew Bell, strategist at Rensburg Sheppards Investment
Management.
"European equities are vulnerable to a slowdown in the
(United) States spreading to Europe, exacerbated by the euro's
strength, and on a currency-adjusted basis, they don't look
massively attractive," he said.
The euro held near a record high near the dollar at $1.5097,
while oil shed 0.4 percent, hitting stock in BP <BP.L>, Total
<TOTF.PA> and Shell <RDSa.L> by 0.6-0.9 percent.
SMALL GAIN
With one full trading session left, the FTSEurofirst 300 is
on track to eke out a 2 percent gain this month, similar to
gains in February 2007 but a big improvement on a 12-percent
fall last month.
Equities have been boosted by a series of measures including
two Fed rate cuts amounting to 125 basis points, a bailout for
monoline bond insurers and, most recently, the lifting for
investment caps for the two largest U.S. home financing groups.
Bell said that markets could well head lower.
"This year we had a sharp fall in the first three-quarters
of January, then a bounce, which seems to have stopped. All this
reflects the fact that people are uncertain whether they should
react to the prospect of a better tomorrow or a stinky today."
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE <> lost 0.7 percent,
Germany's DAX <> and France's CAC <> both fell 0.8
percent.
Pubs group Whitbread <WTB.L> was the top British gainer with
a 6 percent rise, prompted by a rise in sales and a savings plan
involving merging its hotels and pub restaurants.
(Reporting by Sitaraman Shankar; Editing by Richard Hubbard)
