European shares trim losses as miners climb

European shares trimmed some losses in morning trade on Tuesday as mining stocks rose, partly offsetting a slide for banks on disasppointment over U.S. lawmakers' rejection on Monday of a $700 billion bank bailout.

By 0748 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 1.1 percent at 1,034.55 points, having fallen earlier to its lowest level since late 2004.

The index lost 5.2 percent on Monday.

Banks took most points off Europe's benchmark index, with Royal Bank of Scotland down 6.1 percent, Italy's UniCredit 7.7 percent lower and Germany's Deutsche Bank falling 4 percent.

Among miners, Anglo American was up 1.3 percent and Rio Tinto added 1.5 percent.

Britain's Tesco, the world's third-biggest retailer behind France's Carrefour and U.S. group Wal-Mart, rose 3.5 percent after first-half profits that met market expectations and a higher quarterly dividend.