Europe shares edge lower; telecoms up, miners fall

                                
 * FTSEurofirst 300 edges lower, trades around 1,000
                                
 * Telefonica leads telecom shares higher
                                
 * Weaker metals prices put pressure on miners
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, click on [STXNEWS/EU]
                                
 By Atul Prakash
                                
 LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - European equities edged lower on
Friday, with the key index hovering around 1,000 points, as
weaker miners offset telecom shares that rose after Telefonica
<TEF.MC> offered bigger-than-expected dividends.
                                
 At 0831 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top
European shares was 0.1 percent lower at 999.85 points after
rising 1.3 percent in the previous session. The benchmark index
is up 20 percent this year and has surged 54 percent since
hitting a record low in early March.
                                
 Miners lost ground as metals prices retreated on concerns
over demand, rising stock levels and a firmer dollar. Copper
<MCU3> fell 1 percent, aluminium <MAL3> was down 0.5 percent and
nickel <MNI3> shed 0.9 percent.
                                
 Miners BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L>,
Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L> and
Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L> fell 0.9-1.9 percent.
                                
 Analysts said that the market might consolidate recent gains
and wait for more earnings results before marching higher.
                                
 "There is a little bit of caution in the market. We could
see in the next couple of weeks that the market is stabilising
or just a little bit higher, as better-than-expected earnings
results are already factored in," said Koen De Leus, economist
at KBC Securities.
                                
 He said investors needed to see much higher-than-expected
earnings numbers to boost the market.
                                
 Telecommunications shares were among top gainers, led by
Europe's largest telecom company Telefonica which said it would
hike its dividend per share to 1.40 euros next year, up from
1.15 euros in 2009, far outstepping analyst expectations for
1.27 euros per share. [ID:nL9471873]
                                
 Telefonica rose 2 percent, while Carphone Warehouse <CPW.L>,
Portugal Telecom <PTC.LS> and Swisscom <SCMN.VX> rose 0.5 to 1.6
percent.
                                
 BT <BT.L> rose 1.6 percent. The company is to more than
double the number of homes able to use its ultra-fast broadband
network in a big expansion of its original next-generation
infrastructure plans, the Financial Times said. [ID:nB468606]
                                
 Banks recovered after early losses, with HSBC <HSBA.L>, BNP
Paribas <BNPP.PA>, Credit Agricole <CAGR.PA>, UBS <UBSN.VX> and
Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> rising 0.2 to 0.7 percent.
                                
 In macroeconomic news, Germany's trade surplus narrowed
unexpectedly in August as exports fell for the first time in
four months, tempering hopes of robust third quarter growth in
Europe's largest economy. [ID:nL9482618]
                                
 Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index <.FTSE>, Germany's
DAX <.GDAXI> and France's CAC 40 <.FCHI> were nearly flat.
 (Editing by Hans Peters)