* FTSEurofirst 300 index falls 0.9 percent
* Miners rise after China cuts rates
* Oils fall despite crude rising
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - European shares fell in early
trade on Wednesday, after two days of gains, with oil stocks
suffering most despite a pick-up for crude prices.
At 1006 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was down 0.9 percent at 826.11 points, having
been in and out of positive territory and down as low as 819.97.
The index rose 0.6 percent on Tuesday, and 8.9 percent on
Monday but has lost more than 44 percent this year, hurt by the
credit crisis and economic slowdown.
"The Fed's move (to encourage lending) was taken low-key by
the market," said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at
NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin.
"You can't force banks to lend if they don't want to.
Earnings worries are still there. Markets are waiting to see a
deceleration of the rate of economic decline. If there are signs
of stability, we could have a rally."
Crude prices <CLc1> reversed early losses to trade 1.2
percent higher at $51.38 a barrel. But most energy shares were
still lower. BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> and Total
<TOTF.PA> were down 2.6, 1.8 and 1.4 percent respectively.
China cutting interest rates helped sentiment towards
miners, though gold and copper prices were still lower.
Anglo American <AAL.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, BHP Billiton
<BLT.L>, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. <ENRC.L>, Kazakhmys
<KAZ.L>, Vedanta Resources <VED.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> were up
between 3.2 and 9 percent.
Porsche <PSHG_p.DE> was up 8.5 percent despite saying it
expected revenue for the four months to November of 2 billion
euros, down from 2.36 billion. The company said it was becoming
difficult to make reliable forecasts.
Porsche said it was becoming unrealistic to raise its stake
in Volkswagen <VOWG.DE> to more than 50 percent by year-end, due
to the economic environment. Volkswagen was up 8.6 percent.
Peugeot <PEUP.PA> was up 8.8 percent.
Shares in AstraZeneca <AZN.L> were up 2.5 percent,
outperforming a flat European drugs sector <.SXDP>, after it
settled a patent dispute with Teva <TEVA.O> over asthma drug
Pulmicort, delaying the launch of further generics until late
2009.
COMPASS POINTS UPWARDS
Compass Group <CPG.L>, the world's biggest caterer, rose 7.7
percent after posting a 30 percent increase in annual profit,
meeting expectations, and saying that trading in the new
financial year had started well.
Seymour Pierce upgraded Compass to "outperform" from "hold".
Bank of Ireland <BKIR.I> was up 8.2 percent after the Irish
Independent reported that a consortium has entered into
preliminary due diligence with the company and could buy a 60
percent stake if a deal is struck.
A Bank of Ireland spokeswoman declined to comment.
Next <NXT.L> and SABMiller <SAB.L> were among those falling
as a result of going ex-dividend.
French consumer confidence rose unexpectedly in November as
households' view of living standards improved, data from
statistics office INSEE showed.
The second reading of the UK's GDP for the third quarter
confirmed that the economy shrank 0.5 percent.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <> was down 0.1
percent, Germany's DAX <> was up 0.7 percent and France's
CAC-40 <> was flat.
(Reporting by Brian Gorman; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
