* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.1 pct, having hit 1-year high
* Pares gains after Goldman, Citi results
* Nokia slumps 10 pct after results
* Sainsbury up on stake talk
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - European shares hit a fresh
12-month high on Thursday, but pared gains after third-quarter
earnings at U.S. giants Goldman Sachs <GS.N> and Citigroup <C.N>
disappointed some investors.
Results at mobile phone giant Nokia <NOK1V.HE> also hit
sentiment.
At 1246 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was up 0.1 percent at 1,016.79 points, having
been as high as 1,024.34, the highest since Oct. 7, 2008.
The index, which jumped 2.1 percent in the previous session,
is up more than 57 percent from the lifetime low it hit in early
March, as investors have become more confident of the prospects
for economic recovery.
Strong earnings from companies including JPMorgan <JPM.N>
helped the Dow Jones <> to surge through the 10,000 mark on
Wednesday.
But the index retreated from the highs after U.S. banking
giants reported results.
European banks, which had been a major contributor to the
benchmark's rise earlier in the session, were lower after the
results. Barclays <BARC.L>, Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> and HSBC
<HSBA.L> were down between 1.3 and 1.8 percent.
Goldman Sachs reported net income applicable to common
shareholders rose to $3.028 billion, or $5.25 a share, compared
with $810 million, or $1.81 a share, in last year's quarter
ended August 29.
Its shares fell 2 percent in pre-market trade.
"They are better than expected but there was talk of them
coming in at $6, so that's why they have sold off a bit after
the figures. It's a good result but the market will be a touch
disappointed because JPMorgan flew through expectations," said
Arifa Sheikh-Usmani, equity trader at Spreadex.
Citigroup posted a quarterly loss to shareholders as it
suffered $8 billion of credit losses, raising further questions
about the future of the bank that is one-third owned by the U.S.
government.[]
NOKIA FALLS
Nokia <NOK1V.HE> fell more than 10 percent after the world's
top cellphone maker reported a surprise loss for the
July-September quarter, hit by a major writedown at its networks
unit, though it said demand for handsets had improved.
[]
On the upside, UK supermarket group J Sainsbury <SBRY.L>
rose 11.1 percent, with traders citing renewed interest from the
Qatari sovereign wealth fund. A Sainsbury spokeswoman declined
to comment on the talk. []
The Qatari fund built up a stake -- currently around 26
percent according to Reuters data -- during a takeover offer,
which they ditched in Nov 2007 due to the credit crisis.
Tesco <TSCO.L> was up 2 percent, while Morrison <MRW.L> rose
2.6 percent.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <>, Germany's DAX
<> and France's CAC-40 <> were down between 0.5 and
0.8 percent.
Futures for the Dow Jones <DJc1>, S&P 500 <SPc1> and Nasdaq
<NDc1> were down between 0.3 and 0.6 percent, though new weekly
jobless claims fell to a nine-month low, and a gauge of New York
State manufacturing unexpectedly rose.
(Additional reporting by Harpreet Bhal; editing by Jon
Loades-Carter)
