* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.6 percent
* Bank reverse losses, led by rebound in Credit Agricole
* Oil ticks up but energy shares fall on profit-taking
By Sitaraman Shankar
LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - European stocks slipped in early
trade on Thursday as investors took profits on oil shares,
offsetting a rise in banks on hopes that Credit Agricole
<CAGR.PA> had got the bulk of its writedowns out of the way.
At 0840 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <>
index was trading 0.6 percent lower at 1,166.94 points, on track
in August for its ninth month of losses in the last 10.
Banks, which have led a global equities slide over the past
year on losses linked to a meltdown in risky or subprime U.S.
mortgages, reversed early declines to trade higher.
Credit Agricole <CAGR.PA> added most points to the
FTSEurofirst 300, gaining 4.2 percent despite posting a
94-percent fall in quarterly profit, hit by around 1.1 billion
euros of writedowns related to the credit crisis and monoline
insurers.
"People think that they've got the bulk of the writedowns
out of the way and results in the third and fourth quarters will
be better," said a London-based trader.
Other financials were mixed. UBS <UBSN.VX> rose 1.6 percent,
HBOS <HBOS.L> gained 2.2 percent and Intesa Sanpaolo <ISP.MI>,
which reports results later in the day, gained 1.9 percent.
But insurer Swiss Life <SLHN.VX> led losers on the
FTSEurofirst 300, slumping more than 11 percent after issuing a
profit warning, while French bank Natixis <CNAT.PA> slid 6
percent after posting a quarterly loss of more than a billion
euros.
The FTSEurofirst 300 is down 1.2 percent so far in August.
"August has been fairly bleak but volumes have been low and
there's been no reason to push up," said Justin Urquhart
Stewart, investment director at Seven Investment Management.
"September is going to be a season of not just
meteorological storms but also of more writedowns," he said.
Meantime, German unemployment fell in August by a bigger
than expected 40,000 month-on-month in seasonally adjusted
terms. And British house prices fell almost 2 percent on the
month in August.
STORM LIFTS OIL, BUT STOCKS FALL
Oil <CLc1> gained almost $1 a barrel to trade above $119 on
fears that Tropical Storm Gustav may hit the Gulf of Mexico
after it morphs into a major hurricane, paralysing the heart of
U.S. offshore production.
Energy shares gained initially but then fell away to become
the top weighted losing sector on the index. BP <BP.L> slipped
0.6 percent, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> lost 1 percent and Total
<TOTF.PA> lost 1.3 percent.
"There's been a run up in the shares of late with strong
earnings and now people are just cashing in," said a trader.
Among other major movers, French glasses maker Essilor
<ESSI.PA> surged 5.7 percent after it posted a rise in first
half profit and said it was stepping up share buybacks.
And British telecoms group BT <BT.L> jumped 2.5 percent
after a Goldman upgrade to "buy".
Auto stocks fell after Japanese firm Toyota <7203.T>, the
world's most profitable carmaker, cut its 2009 vehicle sales
forecast by nearly 7 percent due to a severe downturn in Western
markets driven by high fuel prices and a credit crunch.
Daimler <DAIGn.DE> fell 2.1 percent, BMW <BMWG.DE lost 1.6
percent, Renault declined 2.6 percent and Peugeot <PEUP.PA> lost
1.9 percent.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <> was down 0.4
percent, Germany's DAX <> down 0.8 percent and France's
CAC down 0.6 percent.
(Reporting by Sitaraman Shankar; editing by Rory Channing)
