European shares lower as food producers weigh

European shares were lower in early trade on Thursday for the third consecutive session, with food producers leading the losers after Danone cut its sales growth target.

By 0814 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.2 percent at 1,025.94 points. "We are seeing the run down towards … the holidays. I get the impression now there are an awful lot of people beginning to close their books and start minimizing risk before the holiday period," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management.

"Volumes are coming down, that may mean if we get any serious news, we could get a bit of volatility coming through."

Food producers took the most points off the index. Danone fell 4.4 percent after the company said it expected medium-term like-for-like annual sales growth of at least 5 percent, compared with a previous forecast of 8 to 10 percent.

Banks featured among the fallers after a massive fundraising by Japan's biggest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, weighed on sentiment. UniCredit, HSBC and Credit Suisse were down 0.3 to 1.2 percent.

Howevever, Reckitt Benckiser Group gained 1.7 percent after a report suggested Colgate-Palmolive could be close to linking up with the Lysol manufacturer.

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was down 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX was 0.1 percent lower and France's CAC 40 was down 0.2 percent.