European shares slip after 7-day winning run

* FTSEurofirst 300 falls 0.4 percent

* Miners, banks drop; telecoms up

* Investors await Glaxo results

* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on [STXNEWS/EU]

By Brian Gorman

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - European shares were lower at midday on Wednesday, snapping a seven-day winning run, as banking and mining stocks weighed, while investors awaited earnings results from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L).

At 1037 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was down 0.4 percent at 885.05 points. The index advanced for a seventh straight session on Tuesday, hitting a 6-1/2 month closing high, and is up more than 36 percent from its lifetime low of March 9.

"It's not surprising the market is taking a breather," said Franz Wenzel, strategist at AXA Investment Managers, in Paris. "It's got a little bit too far ahead of itself. The corporate news has been good, due to restructuring. We've seen some green shoots, but we need to some more evidence of recovery."

Mining stocks took the most points off the index, after a strong run and amid a mixed picture for metals prices.

BHP Billiton (BLT.L) fell 2.8 percent after the world's largest miner reported a 10 percent fall in iron ore output to 27.048 million tonnes after its operations were hit by mining fatalities and flooding in Australia. [ID:nSYD463516]

Investec downgraded the shares to "hold" from "buy".

"The fact that sales fell 9 percent quarter-on-quarter when Rio Tinto increased sales by 33 percent in the same period is perhaps the biggest disappointment," said Investec.

Anglo American (AAL.L), Kazakhmys (KAZ.L), Rio Tinto (RIO.L) and Xstrata (XTA.L) fell between 1.2 and 4.7 percent.

Banks were mostly lower. UBS (UBSN.VX), Barclays (BARC.L) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) were down between 0.4 and 2.3 percent.

Carmaker Fiat (FIA.MI) was 3.5 percent lower after the carmaker reported a loss for the second quarter.

Wincor Nixdorf (WING.DE) fell 10.5 percent after the German maker of ATMs posted weaker-than-expected quarterly results, while the company's full-year forecast disappointed. [ID:nWEA1802]

TELECOMS RISE

Defensive stocks, which have not risen as much in the rally of recent days, were the best performers on Wednesday.

The DJ STOXX European Telecoms Index was the top sectoral gainer, up 0.6 percent, with Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), Vodafone (VOD.L) and Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) up 0.8-2.5 percent.

Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL) was up 3.8 percent after reporting a smaller-than-expected loss in the second quarter, when demand remained low, [ID:nLM117702]

The shares are up 27 percent in the last eight sessions.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) results were due at 1100 GMT.

Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE, Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC-40 .FCHI were between 0.1 and 0.6 percent lower.

Wall Street was set for a lower open. Futures for the Dow Jones DJc1, S&P 500 SPc1 and Nasdaq NDc1 were down between 0.2 and 0.5 percent, ahead of house prices data and results from Morgan Stanley (MS.N). On Tuesday, the Nasdaq rose for the 10th straight day, the longest winning streak in 12 years. (Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt; Editing by Mike Nesbit)