* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.4 pct after four days of gains
* Investors await BoE, ECB rate decisions, economic data
* Energy shares among top losers, financials mixed
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - European equities slipped in
early trade on Thursday from six-week highs a day earlier, led
lower by energy shares on weaker crude prices, and ahead of some
interest rate decisions in Europe and Friday's U.S. jobs
numbers.
Energy shares also lost ground as crude oil prices <CLc1>
fell 0.6 percent towards $80 a barrel on a stronger dollar. BP
<BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BG Group <BG.L>, Tullow Oil
<TLW.L>, Repsol <REP.MC>, Total <TOTF.PA> and StatoilHydro
<STL.OL> shed 0.3 to 0.9 percent.
Investor appetite for risky assets such as equities fell,
with the VDAX-NEW volatility index <.V1XI> rising 2.3 percent
after hitting a six-week low on Wednesday. The higher the index,
which is based on sell and buy options on Frankfurt's top-30
stocks <0#.GDAXI>, the lower the market's desire to take risk.
Analysts said that rate decisions from the Bank of England
and European Central Bank, due at 1200 GMT and 1245 GMT
respectively, and key economic numbers this week will determine
the market's near-term direction.
The European Central Bank is expected to hold interest rates
at a record low of 1.0 percent and outline the next steps in its
gradual withdrawal from emergency lending measures. The Bank of
England is also likely to keep rates unchanged.
At 0917 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was down 0.4 percent at 1,031.61 points after
rising 0.8 percent on Wednesday. The benchmark index has surged
59 percent since hitting a record low in March 2009.
Wednesday's announcement by Greece for a further $6.5
billion in pay cuts and tax hikes to reduce its deficit offered
capped losses, but investors remained cautious as they were
unsure if the package will be enough to generate additional
support from countries such as Germany and France.
Greece has mandated banks to sell a syndicated 10-year euro
benchmark bond, a bank involved in the deal said.
"Despite yesterday's clarification on their austerity
package, the Greeks have failed to settle markets' nerves, and
we may endure a lack of movement until we receive confirmation
on interest rates from both the UK and the ECB later today,"
said Owen Ireland, analyst at ODL Securities.
"With non-farms data scheduled for tomorrow, it promises to
be a pivotal couple of days."
BANKS MIXED, RETAILERS ADVANCE
Banks were mixed, with Standard Chartered <STAN.L>, Barclays
<BARC.L>, Lloyds <LLOY.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>,
National Bank of Greece <NBGr.AT> and Natixis <CNAT.PA> rising
0.6 to 2.3 percent.
BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA> and Credit Agricole <CAGR.PA> fell 0.6
percent and 0.9 percent respectively.
Food and drug retailers were led higher by Ahold <AHLN.AS>,
which rose 4 percent to 21-month highs after the Dutch grocer
said it will return 500 million euros to shareholders and keep
its medium-term sales and margin growth targets.
J Sainsbury <SBRY.L>, Morrison <MRW.L> and Carrefour
<CARR.PA> rose 0.1 to 0.3 percent.
Among individual stocks, Danish shipping and oil group A.P.
Moller-Maersk <MAERSKb.CO> fell 5.6 percent after its Chief
Executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen said he did not expect
container shipping unit Maersk Line to regain profitability in
2010. []
Anheuser-Busch InBev <ABI.BR> fell 4 percent after the
world's largest brewer said it has had a challenging start to
2010 with U.S. volumes under pressure after unveiling mixed
fourth-quarter earnings.
Later in the session, investors' focus will shift to U.S.
macroeconomic indicators, including weekly jobless, durable
goods and pending home sales data. U.S. non-farm payrolls
numbers are due on Friday.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index <>, Germany's
DAX <> and French CAC 40 <> fell 0.3 to 0.5 percent.
(Editing by Sharon Lindores)
