* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.3 percent
* Lloyds, SocGen lead fallers in banking sector
* Adidas top gainer on strong results
By Harpreet Bhal
LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - European shares fell on Thursday, with disappointing results weighing on banking stocks, while heavyweight mining firms tracked a pullback in commodity prices on growing uncertainty over the pace of economic recovery.
Losses, however, were limited after the European Central Bank (ECB) indicated that interest rates were unlikely to rise in June, leaving some scope for investors to reap the benefits of accommodative policy in the short-term.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 0.3 percent lower at 1,131.36 points, but ended off two-week lows hit earlier in the session at 1,122.31 points.
Lloyds Banking Group fell 8 percent after taking a huge charge to compensate consumers for mis-selling loan repayment insurance policies, while Societe Generale fell 5 percent after first-quarter results missed forecasts.
Analysts said the recent rally in stocks looked set to stall, with the next quarter's earnings season unlikely to significantly exceed expectations.
Highlighting the strength of this season's earnings results, of the companies on the STOXX Europe 600 that have so far reported earnings, 53 percent have released earnings that either met or exceeded forecasts with the rest coming-in below expectations, data from Thomson Reuters StarMine showed.
"I see weakness for markets in the summer months as it will become more and more difficult for companies to report rising earnings in the way that many optimistic investors expect, due to rising commodity prices and wages," said Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, equity market strategist at Deutsche Postbank.
Other fallers included miners, with a sharp pull-back in commodity prices leading to a 0.8 percent drop on the STOXX Europe 600 basic resources index, on growing uncertainty over the pace of economic recovery.
Latest labour market data from the United States showed the an unexpected rise in weekly jobless claims to an eight-month high, setting a downbeat tone ahead of the keenly watched non-farm payrolls figures due on Friday.
"STRONG VIGILANCE" LACKING
In a news conference after the ECB kept interest rates on hold, President Jean-Claude Trichet made no reference to the need for "strong vigilance", a phrase normally used to indicate a rate rise the following month.
Instead, he said the central bank would "continue to monitor very closely all developments", comments which leave the door open for an increase in July.
"We had a bit of a wobble in the market as people were nervous before Trichet's comments," a London-based trader said.
"But with interest rates unlikely to rise next month, investors focus has returned to company results and the good numbers that have exceeded forecasts such as Adidas."
Adidas rose 7.3 percent after it said soaring demand from the United States, China and Russia for its sneakers would offset a profit hit from the Japan earthquake, allowing it to raise its sales outlook for the second time this year.
The Euro STOXX 50 volatility index, Europe's main fear gauge, retreated slightly but remained in positive territory, up 3.2 percent, reflecting investors' appetite for riskier assets remained muted.
"We've seen a lot of risk unwind going on across the market place, with investors paring down bets and trades. Realistically, a lot of that was down to the market being technically overbought," a London-based portfolio trader at a U.S. investment bank said.
"But interestingly, the market seems to have over-reacted somewhat, and we could soon be reaching oversold territory, if it continues to go down ... from where we currently are." (Additional reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)