* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.6 pct, falls 0.3 pct over the week
* Telecoms gain, as defensive plays
* EADS sinks on A350 delivery concerns
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - European stocks rose on Friday,
led by telecoms and other defensive sectors, but it was not
enough to stop an overall loss for the week as investors reacted
to data that cast further doubt on the strength of the economic
recovery.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
rose 0.6 percent to close at 1,026.25 points, adding to a 0.9
percent rise on Thursday. However, the index fell 0.3 percent
over the week, its third straight week of losses.
The European benchmark soared 62 percent, between hitting a
lifetime low in March, 2009, and the end of that year. But the
rally has stalled on worries about European debt levels and the
strength of the economic recovery and the index is down 1.9
percent so far this year.
"It's a rally after a sell-off, with no conviction behind
it," said Colin McLean, managing director at fund manager SVM in
Edinburgh. "There's been a general trend towards defensives,
both here and in the United States."
Telecoms performed well on Friday, with Vodafone <VOD.L>, BT
<BT.L>, Telefonica <TEF.MC>, Deutsche Telekom <DTEGn.DE> and
France Telecom <FTE.PA> rose between 1.9 and 2.8 percent.
U.S. economic growth was revised down to a sluggish 1.6
percent annual rate in the second quarter, dampened by the
largest increase in imports in 26 years, the government said on
Friday.
Gross domestic product growth previously was estimated at
2.4 percent and analysts had feared it would be pushed down even
more sharply, to 1.4 percent. The economy grew at a 3.7 percent
pace in the first three months of the year. []
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recovery
has softened more than had been expected and the Fed was ready
to take further steps if needed to spur on the stumbling
economy. []
"At very best, people might have hoped Bernanke would have
said something about quantitative easing and stimulation, and
that would have pushed the market up," SVM's McLean said.
Defensive sectors tend to outperform when there is a lack of
investor confidence. Utilities, also a defensive sector, gained,
with Drax <DRX.L> Ibderdrola <IBE.MC> and National Grid <NG.L>
up between 2.1 and 2.7 percent.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <>, Germany's DAX
<> and France's CAC40 <> ended the day between 0.7
and 0.9 percent higher.
Wall Street was higher around the time European bourses were
closing. The Dow Jones <>, S&P 500 <.SPX> and Nasdaq
Composite <> were up between 1 and 1.2 percent. The Dow
climbed back above 10,000, having been hit earlier in the week
by the downbeat housing data.
VOPAK RISES
Among individual stocks, Dutch oil and chemicals storage
firm Vopak <VOPA.AS> rose 7.3 percent after reported a 21
percent rise in first-half operating profit, driven by oil
product storage, and it raised its outlook for 2010 and beyond.
German internet service provider United Internet <UTDI.DE>
rose 7.1 percent, after its earnings beat estimates.
Airbus parent EADS <EAD.PA> dropped 3.2 percent, trimming
this year's sharp gains, after Les Echos newspaper reported
Airbus told its suppliers it would reduce the number of A350
wide-body airplanes produced from 2013 to 2015.
The Euro STOXX 50 <>, the euro zone's blue chip
index, rose 0.9 percent to 2,630.35 points, after falling to as
low as 2,579.91 points, below the 23.6 percent Fibonacci
retracement of the index's fall from an April high to a May low,
a key support level.
"The market has been overreacting to the flow of sluggish
data. The U.S. economic recovery is grinding to a halt but it
doesn't mean it will slip back into recession," said Francois
Chevallier, strategist at Banque Leonardo, in Paris.
"What has been priced in is the gloomiest scenario, but it
won't happen."
(Additional reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Karen
Foster)
