* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.6 pct; falls for 2nd day
* Financials, miners among top decliners
* Food producers, drugmakers in demand
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - European equities slipped for a
second straight session on Tuesday, with weaker financial and
mining stocks outweighing stronger food producers.
At 0905 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was down 0.6 percent at 1,047.40 points. The
index, which fell 0.1 percent on Monday after six straight
session of gains, is up 62 percent since a low in March 2009.
Financial stocks were among the top losers, with STOXX
Europe 600 banking index <.SX7P> falling 1.4 percent.
Standard Chartered <STAN.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, Barclays
<BARC.L>, Lloyds <LLOY.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>, BNP
Paribas <BNPP.PA> and Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> and Bank of
Ireland <BKIR.I> fell 0.9 to 7.8 percent.
Greek bank shares <.FTATBNK> shed 1.8 percent after Deutsche
Bank cut earnings forecasts for EFG Eurobank <EFGr.AT>, Alpha
Bank <ACBr.AT> and National Bank of Greece <NBGr.AT>.
"The market had a good recovery after correction lows and it
would be tough in the near term, even though you are still in a
cyclical bull market, to just race ahead. People are still
cautious," said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB
Stockbrokers in Dublin.
"What takes the market higher is fundamentally the
perception that earnings are going to go on growing. If that's
happening against the backdrop of perceptions that interest
rates will stay low for an extended period, that's the
environment in which you get a cyclical bull market."
Thomson Reuters Proprietary Research showed that about 240
companies in the STOXX Europe 600 index <> had reported
fourth quarter results, with nearly half reporting earnings
above analysts' expectations.
Miners also lost appeal as copper prices <MCU3> fell 0.5
percent and zinc <MZN3> dropped 0.6 percent. 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 0.8 to 1.9 percent.
"A reasonably benign session yesterday on both sides of the
Atlantic has given no real directional bias for today," said
Owen Ireland, analyst at ODL Securities.
"Coupled with a lack of economic data, today could well be a
day to gauge the strength of traders' confidence in the recent
rally," he added.
DEFENSIVE SHARES GAIN
Food producers, generally seen as defensive plays, were in
demand. Nestle <NESN.VX>, Unilever <ULVR.L> and Danone <DANO.PA>
rose 0.5 to 0.7 percent.
Drugmakers also gained. Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> rose 0.7
percent after the company and Merck <MRK.N> agreed to combine
the French drugmaker's Merial unit and Merck's Intervet/Schering
Plough (ISP) to create a leader in the $19 billion animal health
market []. Merck, however, fell 0.2 percent.
GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> rose 0.9 percent, Novartis <NOVN.VX>
added 0.5 percent and Roche Holding <ROG.VX> gained 0.7 percent.
Among individual movers, Airbus parent EADS <EAD.PA> was
down 5.3 percent after it posted heavy losses in 2009 and
scrapped its dividend as charges on its A380 superjumbo and a
currency hit swelled already announced charges from cost
overruns on the delayed A400M airlifter. []
Deutsche Post DHL <DPWGn.DE> fell 1.1 percent as investors
had expected a stronger outlook from Europe's biggest mail and
express delivery company. The company said a global economic
recovery and cost cuts will help it boost its core profit this
year. []
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index <>, Germany's
DAX <> and France's CAC 40 <> were 0.3 to 0.5 percent
lower.
(Editing by Hans Peters)
