European shares fell yesterday, knocking off fresh two-and-a-half-year highs by news that Royal Dutch/Shell cut its oil reserves for the fifth time in just over a year as corporate earnings dominated the day.

Shell dropped 1.7 per cent in London, with Royal Dutch shedding 1.3 per cent in Amsterdam.

Technology was also down sharply, blighted by a 13.8 per cent slide in French telecoms equipment maker Alcatel which posted quarterly earnings that missed expectations and trimmed its outlook. Shares in rivals Ericsson and Marconi also fell more than the broader stock market.

On a brighter note, Carrefour was Europe's top blue-chip gainer, up two per cent after a board meeting heralded a shake-up at the world's second largest retailer, raising hopes the company was grappling with recent soggy performance at its hypermarkets.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index closed unofficially off 0.2 per cent at 1,071.32 points after hitting a new two-and-a-half-year high earlier in the session.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index ended unofficially down 0.4 percent at 3,010.39 points.

Investors digested news of the Federal Reserve's anticipated decision to raise US interest rates by a quarter point after bourses shut on Wednesday.

But a fall on Wall Street, partly due to mixed economic data, helped to push European shares lower late in the day ahead of the week's top data, the US non-farm payrolls numbers for January today.