* FTSEurofirst 300 index flat
* Banks weigh; Societe Generale up on results
* Anheuser-Busch rises on results; commods up
* For up-to-the minute market news, click on []
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - European shares were little
changed on Wednesday after sharp falls in the previous session,
with robust earnings from Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> limiting
losses in banks hurt by the euro zone sovereign debt crisis.
Meanwhile, positive results from brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev
<ABI.BR> and firmer commodity stocks also provided the index
some support.
French Bank Societe Generale rose 0.9 percent after it beat
forecasts for first-quarter profit, while Anheuser-Busch InBev
gained 1.4 percent after it sold more beer and made more money
than expected in the first three months.
By 0911 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <>
index of top shares was down 0.03 percent at 1,032.92 points
after earlier falling to as low as 1,022.24 as euro zone
contagion fears weighed. The index lost 3 percent on Tuesday.
"There are concerns again today carrying on from yesterday
about the level of debt across Europe," said Alwyn Phillips,
senior sales trader at IG Index.
"Investors are wondering where the growth is going to come
from. I can't see the situation getting much better."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech an
international rescue plan for debt-stricken Greece must succeed
or other European countries may suffer the same fate,
threatening the bloc's future. []
European Central Bank Governing Council member Axel Weber
also said There is a serious threat of Greece's problems
spilling over to other parts of the euro zone. []
Adding to investor worries earlier was news that the pace of
recovery in Spain's dominant services sector had eased in April
as companies struggled to pass on rising costs and were forced
to cut more staff, a widely watched survey showed.
Spanish banks Banco Santander <SAN.MC> and BBVA <BBVA.MC>
fell 2 and 2.4 percent respectively, while other banks Barclays
<BARC.L>, Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> and UBS <UBSN.VX>
slipped 1.5 to 1.9 percent.
COMMODS GAIN
Commodity stocks, however, recovered from sharp falls in the
previous session. Energy groups BG Group <BG.L>, Royal Dutch
Shell <RDSa.AS> and BP <BP.L> were up 0.4 to 0.9 percent.
Miners BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L> and Rio
Tinto <RIO.L> gained 0.6 to 2.2 percent.
On the downside, construction stocks were under pressure.
Irish building materials group CRH <CRH.I> fell 3.9 percent
after it said exceptionally harsh winter weather had sent sales
down around 14 percent in the first four months of the year.
[]
France's Lafarge <LAFP.PA>, the world's largest cement
maker, lost 5.1 percent after it reported a 10 percent drop in
first-quarter sales as tepid economic growth and a harsh winter
in Europe and America slowed construction work. []
Among other individual stocks, Next <NXT.L> slipped 2.8
percent after it said it was prudent to be very cautious on the
2010 outlook because it was inevitable that government action to
tackle the budget deficit would hit consumer spending.
[]
Henkel <HNKG_p.DE> dropped 4.2 percent after its fresh
guidance was still a far cry from what analysts had penciled in
for the full year.
Britain's Prudential <PRU.L> slipped 1.4 percent following
earlier gains as it delayed the launch of its rights issue while
it irons out issues with the UK regulator.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <> index was down 0.2
percent, Germany's DAX <> slipped 0.1 percent, France's
CAC 40 <> was 0.1 percent lower and Spain's IBEX 35 <>
shed 1.5 percent.
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
