* FTSEurofirst 300 index closes down 0.9 pct
* Banks, drugmakers fall
* Porsche gains
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - European shares closed lower on
Thursday as banks and drugmakers fell and investor sentiment was
hit by data showing the number of U.S. workers filing new claims
for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
shares closed down 0.9 percent at 845.71 points. The index has
rebounded around 30 percent since it hit a lifetime low on March
9.
Banks took the most points off the index. Standard Chartered
<STAN.L> fell 2.3 percent after a trading update from the
Asian-focused bank provided no real surprises. []
HSBC <HSBA.L>, Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> and UBS <UBSN.VX>
were down between 2.4 and 5.9 percent.
Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> bucked the trend, up 3.4
percent, after Cazenove upgraded the stock to "outperform" from
"underperform".
"Considering the (jobless) data from the U.S., things are
not really developing in line with expectations. The labour
market is still not in a great shape which have cooled things to
a certain degree down," said Heino Ruland, strategist at Ruland
Research.
"Investors are looking for some hard facts that things are
really improving. I think we are going to be in shaky markets
for the next two or three weeks at least."
Initial claims for state unemployment insurance increased by
15,000 to a greater-than-expected seasonally adjusted 627,000
from a revised 612,000 the week before, the Labor Department
said. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims to drop to
600,000 from a previously reported 608,000. []
However, investors took some solace from the final reading
of first-quarter gross domestic product, which contracted less
than had been previously expected. []
SANOFI-AVENTIS FALLS
Drugmakers were in the doldrums. French drugmaker
Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> slipped 4.6 percent after an analyst
note raised concerns over the safety of its blockbuster diabetes
drug Lantus. Sanofi officials said the diabetes drug was safe.
[]
On the upside, shares in Porsche <PSHG_p.DE> rose 7.6
percent on the hopes that the German sports car maker would
reach a deal in which the Gulf state of Qatar would take a stake
in carmaker Volkswagen <VOWG.DE>, majority-owned by Porsche.
Infineon <IFXGn.DE> was 4.6 percent higher after it said it
was raising guidance for third-quarter financials.
Investors nerves were also rattled by comments on Wednesday
from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which warned that the country's
economic weakness would remain for a time and said it would keep
interest rates close to zero.
"The equities market had been a one-way bet but now there
are doubts about the recovery, given recent forecasts from the
World Bank and the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development)," said Jeremy Batstone-Carr, strategist at
Charles Stanley.
"This is the time of year when analysts revise their
earnings for next year. They had earnings growth of 20 percent
for 2010, but given the backdrop, that looks unlikely."
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <> index was down 0.6
percent, while Germany's DAX <> and France's CAC 40
<> were both 0.7 percent lower.
(Additional reporting by Harpreet Bhal; editing by Karen
Foster)
