European shares ease; drugmakers, chemicals fall

* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.1 pct, ends six-day winning run

* Oil majors gain; crude price hits $82 a barrel earlier

* Pharma shares slip; AstraZeneca, Roche under pressure

By Harpreet Bhal

LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - European shares slipped on Monday, snapping six days of gains, with chemicals weaker and drugmakers down after AstraZeneca's <AZN.L> cancer drug failed in trials, offsetting gains in oils and telecommunication firms.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top shares closed 0.1 percent lower at 1,053.44 points. The index hit six-week highs on Friday after data showed a smaller than expected drop in U.S. jobs last month. [ID:nN04252324]

But chemical companies were under pressure on Monday, reversing hefty gains in the previous session, with Air Liquide <AIRP.PA>, Bayer <BAYGn.DE>, Croda International <CRDA.L> and K+S <SDFG.DE> down 0.9 to 1.7 percent.

Drugmakers were also lower. AstraZeneca shed 1.4 percent after its cancer drug Recentin failed in a head-to-head late stage trial with Roche's Avastin in colorectal cancer patients. [ID:nLDE62708L]

GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> and Shire <SHP.L> fell 0.2 and 0.3 percent, respectively.

On the upside, oil majors were underpinned by stronger crude prices <CLc1>, which hit an eight-week high above $82 a barrel earlier as the dollar weakened and sentiment improved on the economic outlook. BP <BP.L> and BG <BG.L> added 0.7 and 0.2 percent respectively.

Analysts said investors could draw some confidence from an easing in worries over the problems in Greece and some signs of an economic recovery in the United States.

"We seem to have climbed a wall of worry and we've got a bit of a return to risk appetite. We're not that bothered about the problems in Greece anymore and ... non-farm payrolls (U.S. jobs data) was seen as good," said David Morrison, market strategist at GFT Global.

Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <.FTSE> gained 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> was flat and France's CAC 40 <.FCHI> fell 0.2 percent.

TELECOMS STRONG

Among other advancing sectors, defensive telecommunications companies were higher, with France Telecom <FTE.PA>, KPN <KPN.AS>, Telefonica <TEF.MC> and Tele2 <TEL2b.ST> up 0.3 to 1.6 percent.

Meanwhile, investor confidence goot a boost after France on Sunday gave the clearest indication yet that firm plans to help Greece were ready if needed and Portugal on Monday announced austerity measures to rein in its own ballooning budget deficit. [ID:nLDE6260JZ] [ID:nLDE6270VJ]

The European Commission also said it was prepared to propose the creation of an IMF-style European Monetary Fund to cope with future debt crises in the euro zone.

On the macroeconomic front, a report showed that the U.S. job market continued to improve in February for the sixth consecutive month, largely due to a strong recovery in manufacturing production, the Conference Board said. (Editing by Greg Mahlich)