Europe shares end off lows after U.S. homes data

                                
 * Europe shares end down 0.1 pct lower 
                                
 * U.S. home starts buoy market
                                
 * Earlier euro zone data, U.S. jobless data all weak
                                
 * Metro up on positive sales outlook
                                
 By Simon Jessop and Harpreet Bhal
                                
 LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - European shares ended slightly
weaker on Thursday, although off lows after a recovery in U.S.
homes sales from a 13-year trough buoyed sentiment.
[ID:nN23130114]
                                
 A sharp slowdown in euro zone services and manufacturing
growth had earlier hit stocks across the region, with a surprise
rise in U.S. jobless claims adding to market woes before the
existing home sales data helped the index pare losses.
[ID:nLDE68M0GG] 
                                
 The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> ended down 0.1
percent at 1,065.92 points, extending losses from the previous
session when it ended down 1.5 percent, and in line with a
little-changed Wall Street.
                                
 "The housing starts were not as bad as they might have been,
but they're still not great," said Howard Wheeldon, strategist
at BGC Capital Partners.
                                
 Concerns about whether attempts to reflate the global
economy were succeeding or not were "beginning to weigh on the
market" after downbeat comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve
earlier this week, added Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at
Brewin Dolphin.
                                
 However, the Euro STOXX 50 <.STOXX50E>, the euro zone's
blue-chip index, rode the late afternoon uptick to end down 0.5
percent at 2,738.61 points, just above the 50-percent Fibonacci
retracement of the fall from its April high to a May low.
                                
 
                                
 EXTRA COSTS
                                
 The STOXX Europe 600 banking <.SX7P> sector was among the
biggest fallers, down 0.7 percent.
                                
 Irish sovereign credit weakness and the prospect of extra
costs in winding down Anglo Irish Bank [ANGIB.UL] gave weight to
the bank sector bears, as did negative readacross from a bearish
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch note on U.S. investment banks,
traders said. [ID:nLDE68M11D]
                                
 Bank of Ireland <BKIR.I> led the sector fallers, down 5.5
percent, while fellow peripheral euro zone bank Alpha Bank
<ACBr.AT> fell 4.4 percent and Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> ended
down 3.2 percent.
                                
 Other economy-sensitive stocks also took a hit, with
steelmakers chief among the fallers after a bearish note from
BofA-Merrill Lynch gave a downbeat outlook for Thyssenkrupp
<TKAG.DE>, down 2.2 percent, and ArcelorMittal <ISPA.AS>, down 2
percent, traders said.
                                
 Among individual issues, German retailer Metro <MEOG.DE>
ended up 2.9 percent after the German retailers association HDE
said it expects 2010 sales to rise by a stronger than expected
1.5 percent.
                                
 On the downside, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> fell 1
percent after European health regulators recommended it pull its
diabetes drug Avandia off the market due to concerns over heart
attack risks. [ID:nLDE68M1JJ]
 (Editing by David Holmes)
 ($1=.7461 Euro)