UK stocks : FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.3 pct

Valerie Gastaldy, head of Paris-based technical analysis firm Day-By-day, expected the index to make a new high for the year at around 2,790 points in the next few weeks, adding any dip towards 2,611 in the meantime could be a buying opportunity.

SLOW ROTATION

The Euro STOXX 50 has come under pressure in the past two weeks as a corruption scandal stirred fears of political instability in Spain and the Italian election race became tighter, fuelling some profit-taking after a 37 percent rally since June.

Europe equity funds recorded modest outflows in the week ending Feb. 6, EPFR Global data showed, and net inflows into U.S. funds invested in European equities slowed markedly.

"Investors took a pause from the recent strong buying, but sold only an insignificant $200 million from European equity mutual funds," Nomura's research analyst Mark Diver said in a note.

"Our European equity mutual flow indicator ... is just shy of the 2-year peak in sentiment reached last week."

He added Nomura's flow-based indicator showed mutual fund investors are now at their most optimistic in the index's 10-year history, apart from two periods between February and March 2000 and April to May 2006, which were followed by market declines in the following weeks.

But fund managers expect the rotation into higher-yielding assets to continue as the global economic picture improves, helping equities resume their rally after a small pullback.

The MSCI Euro zone index offered prospective returns this year roughly 9 percent higher than Germany's 10-year sovereign bond, Thomson Reuters Datastream

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