European shares fall after slump in China

* FTSEurofirst 300 falls 1.1 percent

* Banks take most points off the index

* Telekom Austria, ENRC rise after results

By Brian Gorman

LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - European shares fell in early trade on Wednesday, after a sharp drop on China's stock market, and as doubts on global economic recovery persisted. At 0824 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares was down 1.1 percent at 924.11 points.

The benchmark index rose 1.4 percent on Tuesday and is up more than 43 percent from its lifetime low of March 9, on hopes of a strong, fast economic recovery.

Banks took most points off the index. BNP Paribas , Banco Santander , Barclays , Societe Generale and UniCredit fell between 1.8 and 2.2 percent.

HSBC fell 3.1 percent, on going ex-dividend.

China's stock market tumbled more than 4 percent on Wednesday, led by recently listed shares, as investors were disappointed that authorities did not take steps to support the market after the key index had fallen as much as 19 percent over the past two weeks. [ID:nBJD001076]

"The decline is linked to the fall on the Chinese stock exchange," said Heino Ruland, strategist at Ruland Research, in Frankfurt.

"It goes back to disappointing consumer sentiment figures in the U.S. last week. There is no sign that we can expect a V-shaped global recovery and the realisation of this will take the heat out of the market. Earnings forecasts are still too high."

Energy companies were mostly lower, though crude prices remained relatively high, down 34 cents at $68.85 a barrel, after a surprise drop in U.S. inventories on Tuesday.

Total , ENI , Royal Dutch Shell , Repsol and StatoilHydro were between 0.8 and 1.3 percent lower.

Most miners were lower, tracking weaker prices for copper and other metals on global economic outlook. Anglo American , Antofagasta , BHP Billiton , Lonmin and Vedanta Resources were down between 1.4 and 2.7 percent.

ENRC RISES

Some companies bucked the trend after their earnings releases.

Eurasian Natural Resources rose 5.9 percent after the Kazakh-focused miner's first-half earnings fell less than expectations. [ID:nLJ326864]

Telekom Austria rose 3.6 percent after defying market expectations and keeping its earnings outlook for the year as it reported second-quarter results that showed revenue weakness as its fixed-line sales shrank. [ID:nLJ506837]

Stora Enso , Europe's biggest paper maker, rose 1.7 percent after saying it would close mills in Finland due to continuing weak demand and book a 592 million euro ($837 million) hit in its third-quarter results.

Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <.FTSE>, Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> and France's CAC-40 <.FCHI> were down between 1 and 1.4 percent. (Editing by Hans Peters)