Banks, miners drag European shares down by midday
* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.3 pct, off 11-week low
* Banks top losers, miners track weaker metals
* Brewers, automakers advance
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on [STXNEWS/EU]
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) - European share prices were still weak by midday on Monday after hitting an 11-week low, with persistent concerns about the strength of an economic recovery and company earnings in the second quarter hitting banking and mining stocks.
The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was down 0.3 percent at 812.18 points by 1031 GMT after touching 805.93, the lowest since late April. The index, which has fallen in seven of the past eight sessions, slipped 1.1 percent on Friday, notching up a fourth straight week of losses.
Banks featured among top losers on the index. HSBC (HSBA.L), Barclays (BARC.L), Lloyds (LLOY.L), Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) fell 0.3-2.1 percent.
But UBS (UBSN.VX) rose 1 percent. The U.S. government and the Swiss bank asked a judge on Sunday to delay the start of a trial, as they seek to resolve their dispute over U.S. demands for the identities of thousands of wealthy Americans suspected of using the bank to dodge taxes. [ID:nN1266563]
Analysts said uncertainties about earnings continued. U.S. oil major Chevron (CVX.N) last week gave a downbeat earnings outlook.
"We do not expect the Q2 reporting season will trigger a material change in the earnings revision trend," said Gerhard Schwarz, head of global equity strategy at UniCredit.
"The estimates for 2009 are probably still slightly too high and will, therefore, likely continue to decline, but the estimates for 2010 should remain relatively stable given the intact prospect of an economic recovery next year."
Investors await U.S. earnings results this week from Goldman Sachs (GS.N), Intel (INTC.O), JP Morgan Chase (JPM.N), Bank of America (BAC.N), Citi (C.N), IBM (IBM.N), Google (GOOG.O), Intel (INTC.O) and General Electric (GE.N). In Europe reports are due from Nokia (NOK1V.HE), Alstom (ALSO.PA) and Novartis (NOVN.VX).
Miners also lost ground, tracking weaker metal prices. Anglo American (AAL.L), Antofagasta (ANTO.L), Rio Tinto (RIO.L) and Xstrata (XTA.L) fell 1.2-4.9 percent.
"I don't think we will see an economic recovery this year and ... earnings estimates are still too high, so there is room for disappointment," Philippe Gijsels, senior equity strategist at Fortis Bank, in Brussels.
