European shares fall back from 2-month high

LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - European shares edged lower on Wednesday, as traders said that the broader economic slowdown justified taking profits on the back of a rally that had seen European equity markets reach a two-month high.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.2 percent at 1,044.37 points, having closed at a two-month high of 1,046.11 points on Tuesday, while the Euro STOXX 50 fell 0.4 percent.

"The macro outlook is still the same. There's some pretty bad figures out there," said Toby Campbell-Gray, head of trading and risk at Tavira Securities, also noting negative sentiment on financials in the wake of a interest-rate rigging scandal at Barclays and other banks.

"We've been sellers into this last rally. We've been selling the FTSE on the back of the banking crisis and been taking profits on the DAX," he said.