Norway's DnB NOR pretax lags forecast in 2nd quarter

* Q2 pretax profit 1.15 billion crowns, vs forecast 2.08 bln

* Repeats 2009 writedowns on loans 8-10 billion crowns

* Sees higher writedowns in Baltics, lower in Norway

* Sees signs of recovery even if uncertainty remains high

* Shares down 2.9 percent

(Adds detail, comments, updates shares)

By Aasa Christine Stoltz

OSLO, July 10 (Reuters) - Norway's DnB NOR ASA (DNBNOR.OL) posted a bigger-than-forecast drop in second-quarter profit on Friday after heavy losses in its Baltic operations, and said it expected further writedowns in the region in coming quarters.

Norway's largest financial services group said it saw signs of recovery but uncertainty over the economic outlook remained high.

Pretax profit at the group whose brands include Vital, Nordlandsbanken and Postbanken fell to 1.15 billion Norwegian crowns ($176 million) from 4.36 billion a year ago, below the median forecast of 2.08 billion in a Reuters poll of 13 banks and brokerages. [nL689214]

"There is still great uncertainty about future economic developments, but there are now several signs that the negative trend may be about to reverse," DnB NOR said.

Shares in DnB NOR, which plunged in 2008 but have risen more than 65 percent so far in 2009, fell 2.9 percent to 44.52 crowns by 0812 GMT, compared with a 0.5 percent rise in the DJ Stoxx European bank index .SX7P.

"We reiterate our view that the DnB NOR stock is vulnerable to any negative news given the share price rally since bottom," analysts at brokerage Carnegie said in a note to clients.

HIGHER WRITEDOWNS

The company reiterated it estimated total writedowns on loans to reach between 8 billion crowns and 10 billion in 2009, but it expected writedowns to be higher in the Baltic region than previously expected and lower in Norway.