* FTSEurofirst 300 index slips 0.3 pct
* Carmakers gain on upbeat China sales data
* RWE falls on possible legal action
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - European shares slipped on
Tuesday as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve minutes
for clues on how the Fed will provide more support for the
economy, with commodities lower as crude and metal prices fell.
Energy stocks featured among the worst performers as oil
prices <CLc1> slipped after Saudi Arabia signalled the OPEC
cartel would maintain production levels. BG Group <BG.L>, Total
<TOTF.PA> and Cairn Energy <CNE.L> fell 1.1 to 2.7 percent.
Miners were on the downside as metal prices eased with a
strengthening dollar on short-covering. Antofagasta <ANTO.L>,
BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> were
0.8 to 2.6 percent lower.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
shares closed 0.3 percent lower at 1,071.26 points.
"Investors are anxious ahead of the Federal Reserve
minutes," said Heino Ruland, strategist at Ruland Research in
Frankfurt. "More details of quantitative easing could change
things and push equities higher."
The Fed, which will release the minutes at 1800 GMT, said
after its Sept. 21 meeting it was prepared to provide more
support for the economy but expressed concern about low
inflation.
However losses were limited as carmakers provided the index
with support. The STOXX Europe 600 Automobiles & Parts <.SXAP>
surged 1.9 percent after upbeat sales figures out of China.
Renault <RENA.PA> and Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE> gained 0.9
percent and 0.7 percent respectively, while Daimler <DAIGn.DE>
rose 3.3 percent after UBS lifted its rating to "buy" from
"neutral".
According to StarMine data, carmakers have one of the
highest earning growths going forward, with the STOXX Europe 600
Automobile & Parts index on a one-year forward earnings growth
of 85.7 percent against the STOXX 600 index <> at 20.3
percent.
RWE SLIPS
Utilities were also on the downside. Germany's RWE <RWEG.DE>
was 2.1 percent lower as traders pointed to a newspaper report
which said the state of North Rhine-Westphalia may resort to
legal action concerning plans to extend operating licences for
nuclear power plants.
"RWE has been burdened by negative news quite a lot recently
but a newspaper report which lays out this possibility of legal
action so clearly is certainly going to weigh on the stock,"
said one trader who declined to be named.
Shares in Standard Chartered <STAN.L> gained 1.8 percent,
with traders citing talk that JPMorgan <JPM.N> is interested in
making a takeover approach.
The Euro STOXX 50 <>, the euro zone's blue-chip
index, fell 0.5 percent to 2,775.75 points, though kept above
its 200-day moving average of 2,765.97 points after briefly
dipping below it.
The index also remained above the 50 percent Fibonacci
retracement of the index's fall from an April high to a May low
at 2,737.62 points.
Valuations on the STOXX Europe 600 <> looked cheap.
Its one-year forward price-to-earnings stood at about 10.31
against a 10-year average of 13.51, Thomson Reuters Datastream
showed.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <> index was down 0.2
percent, Germany's DAX <> was 0.1 percent lower and
France's CAC 40 <> was down 0.5 percent.
(Reporting by Joanne Frearson; editing by David Hulmes)
