* FTSEurofirst 300 falls 0.6 pct after 28-month high on Thu
* Miners top losers as metals prices slip on China concerns
* Intel results support tech shares, ARM Holdings soars
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - European equities slipped on
Friday as weaker metals prices on concerns over China's monetary
policy tightening pressured mining stocks, though losses were
limited by firmer tech shares following strong Intel <INTC.O>
results.
Lingering worries about the euro zone debt crisis and the
U.S. jobs market prompted investors to trade cautiously.
Thursday's figures showed weekly initial U.S. jobless claims
last week jumped to their highest level since October.
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At 0931 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was down 0.6 percent at 1,150.70 points after
closing 0.6 percent lower in the previous session, when the
index hit a 28-month high before surrendering gains.
Miners topped the fallers' list, with copper down on worries
top metals consumer China might take further steps to cool its
economy. The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Materials index <.SXPP> fell
1.4 percent, while Antofagasta <ANTO.L> dropped 1.3 percent.
Analysts said equities will continue to stay data-sensitive
and be influenced my the macroeconomic factors.
The U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the
outlook for the U.S. economy has brightened, but warned on
Thursday that growth this year won't be strong enough to cut the
jobless rate as quickly as policy makers would like.
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"Investors are still assessing the state of the jobs market
in the United States and the European sovereign debt situation
is still in the background," said Keith Bowman, equity analyst
at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"We did have a reasonably favourable Spanish bond auction
yesterday, but I don't think the difficulties are expected to go
away. But we have had some good figures from Intel overnight and
that will provide some support."
INTEL BOOSTS TECHNOLOGY SHARES
Technology shares featured among the top gainers after Intel
Corp <INTC.O>, the world's largest chipmaker, posted
better-than-expected revenue and margins for the fourth quarter
and gave a rosy outlook for early 2011 late on Thursday. Intel
shares in Frankfurt <INTC.F> rose 2.4 percent.
ARM Holdings <ARM.L> was up 6.5 percent after hitting a
10-year high, while other European technology companies Infineon
<IFXGn.DE> and ASML Holding <ASML.AS> rose 1.2 percent and 2.8
percent respectively. The sector index <.SX8P> rose 0.6 percent.
"The main impact of Intel's comments came from its ongoing
confidence in the strength of end markets in 2011 and beyond,
although guidance was only given for 2011," Charles Stanley
analyst Tom Gidley-Kitchin said.
"The increase in ARM's share price implies that investors
are not agreeing with Intel's view that it (Intel) will make
major inroads into the tablet and smartphone markets, nor that
it will see off competition in netbooks etc. from new ARM-based
chips from the likes of Nvidia."
Investors waited for results from JPMorgan <JPM.N>, which
will kick off the banking sector's earnings season. The bank is
seen posting lower trading revenues from its investment banking
unit compared to the year earlier, while it boosted revenue from
debt and equity underwriting.
On the economic front, the market will scrutinise the U.S.
consumer price index and December retail sales figures and the
Reuters/University of Michigan sentiment data.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <>, Germany's DAX
<> and France's CAC 40 <> fell 0.1 to 0.4 percent.
(Editing by Hans Peters)
