Fresh bank worries, sliding oils hit Europe shares

LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - Fresh concern about the outlook for the banking sector drove European shares down on Tuesday, although a steep drop in the price of crude oil and a rally in safe-haven sectors such as drugmakers helped stem the slide.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares ended the day down 1.37 percent at an unofficial close of 1,162.56 points, but well off session lows, having earlier shed as much as 2.6 percent. Crude oil CLc1 falling below $136 a barrel in line with the rise in the dollar .DXY and fading concern about the approach of an Atlantic hurriane depressed shares in Eni (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), which all fell between 2.2 and 3.1 percent.

Banks were the second-worst hit sector. Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) lost 3.2 percent, while Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 1.1 to 2.6 percent.

Yet some analysts believe there may be some respite to the selling in the European equity market, which has fallen by about 30 percent since last July's multi-year highs.

"We're probably close to a bottom, but not the bottom. We're so bombed out, so oversold that we could gradually work our way slightly higher. This is not a good moment to sell -- we would sell into a bounce, and sell cyclicals," said Philippe Gijsels, a European equities strategist at Fortis Bank in Brussels.

Gainers included pharmaceutical groups GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Novartis (NOVN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research), which rose 2.4 to 3.4 percent. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper)