* FTSEurofirst 300 down 1.3 pct; hits 10-week low
* Worries on euro zone sovereign debt hit stocks
* Greek, Spanish shares slip; U.S. jobs data in focus
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - European shares hit 10-week lows
on Friday after hefty falls in the previous day, with growing
worries about sovereign debt situation in the euro zone and
anxiety ahead of a key U.S. jobs data hurting sentiment.
At 0925 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was down 1.3 percent at 980.51 points after
touching 977.02 -- the lowest since late November of last year.
The index slipped 2.8 percent in the previous session, its
biggest one-day percentage fall in 10 weeks.
Investor appetite for risky assets such as equities fell,
with the VDAX-NEW volatility index <.V1XI> rising 5 percent to a
two-month high. 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.
Banks were among the top losers, with Standard Chartered
<STAN.L>, Barclays <BARC.L>, Lloyds <LLOY.L>, Royal Bank of
Scotland <RBS.L>, BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, Commerzbank <CBKG.DE>
and Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> falling 0.7 to 3.6 percent.
"There is now significant downside pressure on global
indexes, with fear spreading that the situation in Greece could
creep in to other weaker European economies," said Owen Ireland,
analyst at ODL Securities.
"Confidence is extremely brittle. Today's nervousness could
well be magnified by the release of the U.S. non-farms this
afternoon," he added.
Global stock markets suffered this week on fears that
troubles in Greece and other southern members of the euro zone,
including Portugal and Spain, could impede or even derail an
economic recovery that helped equities surge in 2009.
The Greek prime minister tried to calm investor fears about
the creditworthiness of his government after euro zone debt woes
provoked a rare direct policy response from the Swiss central
bank, which intervened in its own name in Asian foreign exchange
trading to weaken its currency against the euro. []
The Portuguese government's defeat over a regional finance
bill, a climbdown by the Spanish government over pension reform,
and protests by Greek tax officials have added to the woes of
states struggling to cut budget deficits bloated by recession.
Greek stocks <> fell 2.3 percent, with National Bank
<NBGr.AT>, the country's largest lender, falling 2.4 percent and
Alpha Bank <ACBr.AT> down 1.9 percent.
Spain's main share index Ibex <> fell 1.5 percent,
while major banks Santander <SAN.MC> and BBVA <BBVA.MC> dropped
1.8 percent and 2.1 percent respectively.
MINERS SLIP, DATA EYED
Miners also came under pressure as copper prices <MCU3> fell
1.3 percent, aluminium <MAL3> was down 0.8 percent and nickel
<MNI3> slipped 2.7 percent.
BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L>, Antofagasta
<ANTO.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L> and Eurasian
Natural Resources <ENRC.L> fell 1.5 to 3.4 percent.
"It's clear that the (stock) market is shifting from
extremely risk-loving to once again becoming risk-averse and
this is an environment to be extremely cautious," said Philippe
Gijsels, senior equity strategist at BNP Paribas Fortis.
"We are clearly in a correction mode. If U.S. job figures
are good, the market could see some bounce from oversold
levels."
An unexpected increase in U.S. unemployment claims data on
Thursday made investors nervous ahead of the non-farm payroll
numbers, due at 1330 GMT. The jobs numbers will be closely
watched by markets given its implications for consumer demand in
the world's biggest economy. []
Among individual movers, ICAP <IAP.L>, the world's biggest
inter-dealer broker, sank 18 percent to its lowest level in more
than 10 months after the company said full-year earnings would
miss analysts' expectations.
British gas producer BG Group <BG.L> fell 3.2 percent after
reporting a 38 percent drop in fourth quarter profits.
World number two truck maker Volvo <VOLVb.ST> rose 3.4
percent after it said its main markets would return to growth
this year. It skidded to a wider than expected fourth-quarter
loss, hit by restructuring costs and writedowns. []
