* FTSEurofirst 300 falls 0.3 percent after Monday's high
* Banks, miners retreat but near term trend positive
* Natixis asked for trading in shares to be suspended
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuzters) - European shares fell on Tuesday from the previous session's 10-month high as investors took profits, while miners came under pressure after metals fell on worries that prices may have risen too high.
At 1111 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was 0.3 percent lower at 972.19 points after hitting its highest close since early October on Monday. The index, which plunged 45 percent in 2008, is still up 17 percent this year and has surged 51 percent from a record low in March.
Banks were among top losers after strong gains in the recent sessions, with Standard Chartered, HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale down 0.4-1.8 percent.
Natixis asked for trading in its shares to be suspended after a newspaper reported its owner, French retail bank Groupe BPCE, would guarantee billions of euros of toxic assets at the bank.
Analysts remained positive about the near-term trend, especially because of the improving macroeconomic picture. Data showed Germany's economy exited recession in the second quarter and grew by 0.3 percent.
"If a sustained recovery is a genuine belief, pullbacks will be bought into as opposed to it being an opportunity for the bears to cash in," said Brian Myers, analyst at ODL Securities.
Equity markets ignored U.S. President Barak Obama's reappointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term to steer the world's largest economy out of its deepest downturn since the Great Depression.
But analysts said that the news had removed an element of uncertainty in the market.
Utilities shares also lost ground, with Hera, E.ON, GDF Suez and Centrica falling between 0.4 percent and 1.9 percent.
"People should be cautious in selecting sectors and companies. They need to go back to fundamentals, they need to go back to appraise valuations and make sure that they have a well diversified portfolio," said Valerie Plagnol, chief strategist at CM-CIC Securities, in Paris.
"There is still potential in the stock market. A lot of cash is around and a lot of people were late in their investment strategy," she added.
MINERS RETREAT
Mining shares fell in line with the broader market and as copper prices fell 1 percent and aluminium dropped 1.4 percent on worries that the recent price rise was overdone.
BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto, Xstrata and Eurasian Natural Resources fell 1.2-2.7 percent.
"The results season has been dominated by BHP and Rio Tinto and their cautious outlooks," UBS said in a note.
"But we look for a more positive September; Antofagasta and Kazakhmys will report this week and should specifically highlight the copper story that surprises both in supply tightness and in western world restocking."
Energy shares were also down. BP, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group, Tullow Oil, Total and StatoilHydro shed 0.1-0.7 percent.
British oil explorer Cairn Energy fell 1.9 percent after warning that meeting targets for the next stages of the development was becoming "increasingly challenging", as it reported a first-half loss after tax.
Irish group CRH fell 1.4 percent after posting a sharp drop in first-half pretax profit and saying the rate of decline would ease in the second half due to cost-cutting and improvements in its core U.S. market.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 fell 0.1-0.3 percent. Later in the session, investors' attention will switch to key macroeconomic data from the United States on house prices and consumer confidence. (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)