Europe stocks lower, awaiting US jobs; RBS slumps

* FTSEurofirst 300 index down 0.9 pct

* Banks weigh; RBS results disappoint

* Allianz falls after results

By Joanne Frearson

LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - European shares were lower in early trade on Friday as investors awaited key U.S. monthly jobs data, with banking shares the biggest losers after Royal Bank of Scotland posted a first-half loss.

By 0846 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top shares was down 0.9 percent at 929.79 points.

The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares had surged 15 percent since July 10, propelled by better-than-feared company results.

The index, which has gained 43 percent since reaching a floor in early March, is up around 11.6 percent so far in 2009.

Investors will closely study the U.S. July employment report at 1230 GMT. In a Reuters survey, economists forecast that 320,000 U.S. jobs were lost in July compared with a loss of 467,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate is seen at 9.6 percent, which would be the highest since June 1983. [USNFAR=ECI]

"I think today the worry is bad news, recently the market has ignored bad news and risen anyway ... now more sensible heads will prevail," said Mic Mills, senior trader at spread betters, ETX Capital.

Banking shares took the most points off the index. State-owned Royal Bank of Scotland slumped 15.8 percent after it posted a 1 billion pound ($1.7 billion) loss in the first-half of the year, hit by 7.5 billion pounds of bad debts, and named a new finance director to boost turnaround efforts. [ID:nL7481516]

HSBC , Lloyds Banking Group , Barclays and UniCredit were down 3 to 7.2 percent.

ALLIANZ FALLS

Insurers were also on the downside. Allianz shed 2.8 percent as it beat expectations with a 21 percent rise in second-quarter net profit, but forecast that business would remain challenging with lower expected returns. [ID:nL6415424]

"Generally, most companies tend to beat estimates, but expectations have been lowered so much it is not so difficult to beat these levels. Earnings are still down 30 something percent in the U.S. and Europe, so it is not good," said Philippe Gijsels, senior equity strategist at Fortis Bank.

"If you look at where the profits have come most of this has been through cost cutting. Revenues are still down year on year ... the market has been hoping final demand will pick up ... I do not think final demand will be there and eventually I think earnings will disappoint," he said.

Miners were in the doldrums as copper slipped 2 percent. Anglo American , Antofagasta , BHP Billiton , Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation , Rio Tinto and Xstrata were down 2.5 to 7.2 percent.

Looking at individual stocks, PSA Peugeot Citroen fell 4.7 percent after Standard & Poor's on Thursday cut its ratings into junk territory, citing an expectation that low demand will hurt the French automaker's already weak profitability. [ID:nN06340471]

Shares in Belgium's Umicore slumped 10.1 percent after the metals group reported a sharp drop in first-half profit and said it sees second-half recurring operating profit roughly the same as in the first half. [ID:nL5507741]

Turning to the upside, defensive stocks were in favour. Telecom groups Vodafone , Telefonica , France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom were up 0.6 to 1.4 percent.

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <.FTSE> index was down 1.2 percent, Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> was 0.8 percent lower and France's CAC 40 <.FCHI> was down 1.1 percent. (Reporting by Joanne Frearson; Editing by Hans Peters)