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European shares slip

London - European shares slipped back on Monday as investors paused for breath after a key market index hit a six-month high on Friday, with chartists suggesting that stocks now looked overbought.

However, Greek shares bucked the trend after Prime Minister George Papandreou's decided not to call early national elections. The Athens General index was up 2.4% and the Greek banking index gained 3.4%.

By 1231 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.1% at 1 110.73 points after closing at its highest level since mid-April boosted by better than expected U.S. jobs data and U.S. Federal Reserve monetary stimulus plans.

"Clients are taking profits after an impressive week last week," Giles Watts, head of equities at City Index, said.

"I think investors will be taking stock over the next three or four days. There is not much macro data out this week. The markets are looking overbought."

Technical analysts suggested the market was facing some resistance and the relative strength index (RSI) for the FTSEurofirst was at 68. Seventy and above is considered "overbought".

"We are going to need to see a close above 1 112 before the (more important) daily chart exceeds the peak that was recorded in April," a Charles Stanley technical analyst said.

RSI levels for Britain's FTSE 100 at 67 and Germany's DAX at 73 were also high.

Not all banks were in the ascendant. Bank of Ireland dropped 12.2% as Ireland's main opposition party said on Sunday it will not back next month's budget.

Elsewhere, Germany's second-biggest lender Commerzbank fell 4.1 percent after it missed third-quarter profit forecasts as losses on commercial mortgages and the costs of integrating Dresdner Bank offset strong corporate lending.

Adidas gains

On the upside, sporting goods retailer Adidas gained 2.3% after the group said its aimed to overtake market leader Nike by increasing sales to £17bn ($23.87bn) by 2015.

Broker downgrades left utility makers lower. Scottish & Southern Energy slipped 1.6% after Nomura cut its rating on the stock to "reduce" from "neutral".

E.ON AG fell 1.4% after Nomura downgraded it to "neutral" from "buy".

Mediaset SpA, which is owned by Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, lost 3% on heightened worries of a government fall and the risk the broadcaster would face increased competitive pressures.

Julius Baer fell 2.3% after analysts at BofA Merrill Lynch downgraded the Swiss private banking group's shares to "neutral" from "buy".

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was down 0.4%, Germany's DAX was 0.1% lower and France's CAC 40 was down 0.1%.

The Thomson Reuters Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index was 1% lower.

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