European shares jittery around one-week lows

* FTSEurofirst steady around one-week lows
* 100-day moving average adds to market indecision
* Euro zone finmins, earnings season in focus

By Toni Vorobyova
LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - European equities hovered around
one week-lows in choppy trading on Monday, as investors weighed
relatively attractive valuations after three sessions of falls
against weak global economic data and crisis rumblings from the
euro zone.
Softer than expected Chinese inflation fuelled economic
concerns following a disappointingly weak U.S. jobs report on
Friday. For equities, the silver
lining will be if the weak numbers prompt more stimulus from
central banks, especially given easing price pressures.
Sentiment was also mixed going in to a meeting of European
finance ministers, with Spanish and Italian
equity markets rising even as bond prices fell, as investors try
to gauge the chances of a speedy agreement over the fine print
of the region's rescue plans.
"There are some hopes that we will see some respite for
equity markets from the political side, albeit it's not a
given," said Gerhard Schwarz, head of equity strategy at Baader
Bank.
"The market is very much for a flexible investor, the cycle
is very short ... Buy on dips, yes, but I think the dip has to
be lower than what we have seen so far to tempt long only
investors back into the market."
The FTSEurofirst 300 was broadly flat at 1,034.33 points by
0741 GMT, having darted either side of the no-change
mark in a range of 1,035.65 to a one-week low of 1,032.66 in
volatile early trade, finding it tough to hold convincingly
either side of the 100-day moving average around 1034.
The Euro STOXX 50 edged up 0.2 percent to 2,238.77 points,
in similarly jittery trade, with some investors seeing value in
defensive utilities, drugmakers and food producers after the
euro zone blue chip index dropped 3.7 percent in the previous
three sessions.

EARNINGS WATCH
With Alcoa kicking off the U.S. second quarter
earnings season on Monday and Europe following next week,
investors will be watching how economic weakness have impacted
corporate profits.
The aluminium giant is seen managing only a 5 cent per share
profit for the past three months, bruised by weak prices for the
metal, and prompting investors to push short interest in the
stock to record highs, according to Markit.
In Europe, Metro, the world's No.4 retailer, said
on Monday it would not escape the impact of the European debt
crisis, which was hitting demand in Germany. Its shares fell 3.2
percent, the biggest faller among European blue chips.

There was some good news for Germany, though, with both its
exports and imports rebounding in May.
Peter Garnry, equity strategist at Saxo Bank, forecast that
data could start to turn higher soon.
"So if we see weakening and a sell-off in the next couple of
weeks, (this) could be the opportunity to buy," he said, but
added that he still prefers U.S. equities over European ones due
to tail risks linked to the crisis.