* FTSEurofirst 300 falls 0.2 percent
* Banks fall after UBS results
* Rio Tinto leads miners lower
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - European shares closed lower on
Wednesday, snapping a three-day winning run, with UBS <UBSN.VX>
<UBS.N> leading banks down after making a first-quarter loss,
and oils and miners falling.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
fell 0.2 percent to 788.21 points. The index has fallen 5.3
percent this year after plunging 45 percent in 2008, but is up
22.1 percent from the record low of March 9.
Wall Street was mixed as European bourses were closing. U.S.
investors absorbed data that mostly gave downbeat signals about
the depth of the recession in the world's biggest economy.
"The market is catching its breath. There is a cooling of
sentiment, as some of the data shows there is a protracted
slowdown, dashing hopes of a quick recovery," said Gerhard
Schwarz, head of global equity strategy at UniCredit in Munich.
UBS, which rose 10 percent on Tuesday, fell 6.9 percent
after Switzerland's largest bank made a first-quarter loss of
nearly 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.74 billion), and said it will
reduce its workforce by another 11 percent. []
BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, Banco Santander <SAN.MC>, Credit
Agricole <CAGR.PA>, Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE>, HSBC <HSBA.L> and
Standard Chartered Bank <STAN.L> closed between 1.5 percent and
4.3 percent lower.
Miners lost ground after Rio Tinto <RIO.L> said its
first-quarter aluminium output fell 6 percent, mostly due to
curtailments in Europe. Rio fell 5.2 percent.
Other miners also fell, even as most metals prices rose. BHP
Billiton <BLT.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L>
and Xstrata <XTA.L> between 3.1 percent and 7.5 percent.
U.S. industrial production fell an unexpectedly sharp 1.5
percent in March, U.S. Federal Reserve data showed, capping a
brutal quarter as businesses pared orders and cut inventory in a
deepening recession. []
U.S. consumer prices fell in March and recorded their first
12-month drop since 1955, as slumping demand pushed down energy
and food costs.
OILS FALL
Energy shares also lost ground. Crude prices <CLc1>
initially fell after U.S. government data showed inventories
rose to their highest since 1990, but recovered later to more
than $50 a barrel.
BP <BP.L>, ENI <ENI.MI>, Repsol <REP.MC>, Total <TOTF.PA>
fell between 1 percent and 3.6 percent.
Traditionally defensive drugmakers rose. Shire <SHP.L> was
up 2.7 percent and GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.l> gained 1.6 percent.
Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> rose 1.6 percent after saying it
was buying private U.S. cancer specialist BiPar Sciences Inc.
for up to $500 million in the latest bolt-on acquisition by the
French drugmaker.
Tobacco, another defensive sector, gained with British
American Tobacco <BATS.L> and Imperial Tobacco <IMT.L> up 4.8
percent and 3.6 percent respectively.
Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier <REL.L> rose 5.9 percent
after Goldman Sachs added the company to its "conviction buy"
list after the stock hit a four-month low on Tuesday.
"We believe its discount valuation is extreme and the stock
presents an excellent mean reversion opportunity," the broker
said.
Nokia <NOK1V.HE> fell 3.8 percent ahead of first-quarter
results on Thursday.
"The earnings season should not be a major threat to the
equity market unless there are profit warnings, as expectations
are low enough," said Schwarz.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <>, Germany's DAX
<> and France's CAC-40 <> fell between 0.2 percent
and 0.5 percent.
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Andrew
Macdonald)
