European shares lower on debt worries, drugmakers

                                
 * FTSEurofirst 300 index slips 0.1 percent
                                
 * AstraZeneca hit by Brilinta setback
                                
 * Banks hit by euro-zone peripheral debt worries
                                
 * For up-to-the minute market news, click on [STXNEWS/EU]
                                
 
By Joanne Frearson
                                
 LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - European shares slipped on
Friday, with investors cautious as concerns grew about the euro
zone peripheral debt crisis, while AstraZeneca's <AZN.L> dropped
as a key drug failed to win U.S. approval.
                                
 By 0957 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3>
index of top shares was 0.1 percent lower at 1,129.98 points
after rising 0.4 percent in the previous session.
                                
 "There is still ongoing work to be done on the European
Union crisis mechanism, I think once you start looking at the
details, that is when the difficulties start to come in," Jeremy
Batstone-Carr, head of equities at Charles Stanley, said.
                                
 "Investors want to know about the size of it, what the terms
are and who will contribute."
                                
 European Union leaders have agreed to create a permanent
financial safety net from 2013 and the European Central Bank
said it would nearly double its capital to 10.76 billion euros
to cope with bigger credit risk. [ID:nLDE6BF2A3]
                                
 Batstone-Carr also said to be wary about reading into what
is going on in the market because there is triple witching, when
contracts for stock index futures, stock index options and stock
options all expire at the same time.
                                
 "I think a lot of investors would prefer to get out rather
than get involved right now," he added.
                                
 Banks, which have been hard hit by the euro zone sovereign
debt crisis, were under pressure after Moody's Investors Service
slashed Ireland's credit rating by five notches to Baa1 from
Aa2. [ID:nLDE6BG0EG]
                                
 Bank of Ireland <BKIR.I> slumped 6.7 percent, while Barclays
<BARC.L>, Credit Agricole <CAGR.PA> and Lloyds Banking Group
<LLOY.L> fell 0.7 to 1.1 percent.
                                
 On Thursday the ratings agency also put Greece's credit
rating on review for a possible downgrade. [ID:nLDE6BG06A]
                                
 Drugmakers also featured among the worst performers, with
the STOXX Europe 600 Health Care <.SXDP> down 1 percent.
AstraZeneca <AZN.L> fell 5 percent after its new heart medicine
Brilinta failed to win approval from U.S. regulators.
                                
 TECHS GAIN
                                
 On the upside, technology stocks were in demand. SAP
<SAPG.DE> gained 1.4 percent after traders pointed to
forecast-beating results of peer Oracle <ORCL.O> and Qatar's
finance minister said the emirate did not rule out investing in
the German software giant.
                                
 Autonomy <AUTN.L> jumped 4.3 percent, also boosted by
Oracle's results.
                                
 Nokia <NOK1V.HE> gained 1 percent after the quarterly profit
of its smaller rival, No 4 cellphone maker Research In Motion
<RIM.TO> <RIMM.O>, beat analyst expectations.
                                
 "RIM's fiscal 3Q11 shipments confirm expectations of robust
smartphone demand at the end of 2010, particularly as it doesn't
include the high volume final weeks in December," CCS Insight
analyst Geoff Blaber said.
                                
 Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <.FTSE> index was 0.3 percent
higher, Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> gained 0.1 percent and France's
CAC 40 <.FCHI> was 0.4 percent higher.
                                
 The Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index <.TRXFLDPIPU> was
0.9 percent higher.
 (Reporting by Joanne Frearson; Editing by Hans Peters)