European stocks pare losses as crude weakens

LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - European shares pared losses in afternoon trading on Friday, as U.S. shares partially recovered and crude prices fell.

At 1359 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was down 1.1 percent at 1,139.00 points after falling 2 percent earlier in the session on weaker-than-expected U.S. non-farm payrolls data.

The pan-European index has fallen 24 percent this year.

Crude oil prices fell 0.7 percent to trade near $107 a barrel on flagging U.S. demand, easing inflation concerns.

The banking sector remained one of the top losers on the index, with UBS AG (UBSN.VX) falling 4.1 percent, Barclays (BARC.L) slipping 3.6 percent, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) dropping 2.3 percent and HBOS (HBOS.L) down 0.4 percent.

Miners also weighed heavily, tracking a sharp decline in metals prices. BHP Billiton (BLT.L) down 1.1 percent, Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) falling 3.9 percent and Xstrata (XTA.L) slipping 2.7 percent. (Reporting by Atul Prakash)