By Brian Gorman LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - European shares fell in early trade on Wednesday, adding to the previous session's sharp losses and tracking global equity weakness as banks and energy shares fell on continuing worries over a deep recession. At 1011 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.5 percent at 879.02 points, after slipping more than 4 percent in the previous session. The index has lost more than 41 percent this year, hit by the credit crisis and resulting economic slowdown. UK unemployment data on Wednesday provided the latest evidence of economic weakness. The Office for National Statistics said the number of people without a job rose to 1.825 million in the three months to September, the highest level since the three months to December 1997. The claimant count rose 36,500, the biggest rise in claimant count since December 1992. Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE, Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC-40 .FCHI were down between 0.5 and 0.6 percent. Analysts were sceptical about the prospects for a significant recovery, and an early rally, which had seen the index more than 2 percent earlier in the session, faded. "I can't see anything which will give the market strength," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management. "It's going to be a bit soggy today. People are not willing to participate in the market. There's a buyers' strike at the moment. We're expecting a rally by the end of year, but it's only a rally." He added that much bad earnings news was already priced into shares. "People are assuming things are bad, and they're having their assumptions thoroughly fulfilled," he said. Banks took most points off the index. France's Natixis (CNAT.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), fell 11 percent after it said it had a tough month in October. [nLC440684] Natixis denied a newspaper report that it had lost 975 million euros ($1.24 billion) in trading operations in October but said its core investment banking unit had a torrid time last month. BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) were down 2.2 and 0.9 percent respectively. But Italy's second-biggest bank UniCredit (CRDI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was 4.4 percent higher despite posting a 54 percent fall in third-quarter net profit to 551 million euros ($701.8 million), citing the "dramatic conditions" in the markets. The bank, which is boosting capital by 6.6 billion euros by skipping its cash payout and doing a capital increase to try to match the strength of European rivals, said changes to IAS accounting boosted profits by 856 million euros. Oils fell as crude prices CLc1 slipped more than 2 percent to $58 a barrel. BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Statoil (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) fell 1.8 and 4.5 percent respectively. Tullow Oil (TLW.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) sank 4 percent after it said output in 2008 would undershoot its forecast. SWISS LIFE (SLHN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) SLUMPS Insurer Swiss Life (SLHN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was down 14 percent after saying third-quarter premium volumes fell 11 percent to 3.075 billion Swiss francs ($2.61 billion) and warning it would not meet its full-year net profit guidance. J. Sainsbury (SBRY.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Britain's third-biggest supermarket group, rose 1.7 percent after posting first-half profit towards the top end of forecasts, but said the economic environment in the second half was "particularly challenging." French power group Electricite de France SA (EDF) (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was up 2.1 percent after it maintained existing 2008 earnings guidance as third-quarter sales rose. Shares in Holcim (HOLN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's second-largest cement maker, fell 9.6 percent after it posted a drop in third-quarter net profit and warned that business would be weak in the final quarter as global construction slows. Mobile telecoms were the strongest-performing sector, with Vodafone (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) up 5.9 percent, extending gains from Tuesday, when its first-half results beat forecasts. Spain's Telefonica (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was up 1.7 percent, while BT (BT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which reports first-half results on Thursday, was up 2 percent. Mining stocks gave up early gains as copper prices slipped back. BHP Billiton (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Anglo American (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Vedanta Resources (VED.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) were down between 0.7 and 6.7 percent. Tenaris (TENR.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was up 5.8 percent after equity index provider MSCI Barra added the Italian oil and gas equipment services company to its World Index .MIWD00000PUS, as part of its November 2008 semi-annual index review. The change will be at the close on Nov 25. (Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Victoria Bryan)

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