* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.6 pct; resumes last week's retreat
* Latest developments in Middle East hit sentiment
* BlackRock fund manager sees good value in energy stocks
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Blaise Robinson
PARIS, March 1 (Reuters) - European stocks fell on Tuesday
after fresh jitters over political turmoil in the Middle East
and North Africa prompted some investors to cash in a portion of
recent lofty gains on banking and energy stocks.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
ended 0.6 percent lower at 1,161.92 points, resuming last week's
pull-back that was triggered by escalating violence in OPEC
member Libya.
U.S. crude oil futures <CLc1> rose $2 at $98.97 a barrel on
Tuesday, lifted in part by a report of Saudi involvement in
Bahrain quickly denied by a Saudi official, while clashes
between Iran's security forces and opposition supporters in
Tehran reported by an opposition website also kept investors on
edge. []
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Middle East unrest graphics http://r.reuters.com/nym77r
Oil price impact on GDP: http://r.reuters.com/jux28r
Correlation equities-oil: http://bit.ly/eMGSMp
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
Europe's STOXX banking index <.SX7P> surrendered 1.9
percent, with Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> down 3.5 percent and
HSBC <HSBA.L> down 3 percent. The index, which has strongly
outpaced the broad market over the past 3 months, is still up
9.4 percent year-to-date.
Despite the broad market's recent pullback, technical
analysts remained positive on equities on the longer term.
"So far, this has been just a mild retreat in an almost
uninterrupted rally since the correction we had last May. The
market's upward trend is intact, no red flags here, so the dip
is clearly a good opportunity to buy," said Vincent Ganne,
technical analyst at IG Markets in Paris.
Shares of energy companies lost ground, with BP <BP.L> down
1 percent and Total <TOTF.PA> down 2.1 percent, as concern about
the risk of supply disruption on oil companies' results offset
the positive impact of rising crude prices.
The 30-day rolling correlation between the STOXX energy
index <.SXEP> and U.S. crude oil futures <CLc1>, which has
oscillated around +0.5 over the past two years, dropped to -0.12
on Tuesday.
Poppy Allonby, co-head of BlackRock's BGF World Energy Fund,
sees good value in energy stocks, which have underperformed
other commodity-related shares over the past year.
"The sector has never looked so cheap in terms of price to
earnings ratios," she said.
"Some of the headwinds the sector had faced during the last
few years are turning into tailwinds: the macro environment has
improved and the oil market is going to tighten over the next 12
to 18 months. This could be accelerated by the events that we've
seen in the Middle East and North Africa."
Around Europe, UK's FTSE 100 index <> lost 1 percent,
Germany's DAX index <> fell 0.7 percent, and France's CAC
40 <> dropped 1.1 percent.
(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Additional reporting by Scott
Barber; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
