Europe's STOXX 600 <.STOXX> slipped 0.1 percent, while the eurozone's broader stocks <.STOXXE> and blue-chip indices <.STOXX50E> fell 0.2 percent.

Financials were a bright spot for the second day running, with Unicredit (>> UniCredit SpA) up 4.4 percent after rising revenues and lower loan losses gave it better-than-expected first-quarter profits.

"We believe that strong headlines across the board on asset quality, capital and profit recovery should all support continued re-rating of the stock," said Jefferies analysts.

Italy's banking index <.FTIT8300> tested its highest levels in more than a year as Mediobanca (>> Mediobanca Group), Ubi Banca (>> Unione di Banche Italiane SpA), and Banco BPM (>> Banco BPM SpA) rose 1.8 to 3.5 percent. Italian blue chips <.FTMIB> outperformed their European peers, rising 0.3 percent.

"If the market wants to continue buying the reflation trade, Italian banks are the most sensitive to rising rates," said Antonio Guglielmi, head of equity markets at Mediobanca.

Hikma (>> Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc) shares fell 8 percent, making it the worst-performing European stock. Its flagship generic drug, Advair, suffered a setback in its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Telecoms stocks <.SXKP> were among the worst-performing, with BT (>> BT Group plc) down 2.5 percent after it announced 4,000 job cuts in a restructuring to recover from a year it called "challenging".

Shares in Britain's biggest telecoms company have not recovered from a 20 percent drop after it revealed accounting malpractices in Italy in January.

Spain's Telefonica (>> Telefonica SA) fell 1.7 percent after its results.

Heat-pump maker Nibe Industrier (>> Nibe Industrier AB) was the top gainer, up 7.6 percent after its first-quarter profits beat forecasts.

Norwegian seismic surveyor TGS (>> TGS NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA) gained 5.8 percent after the U.S. Department of Interior said it would review applications from TGS and five other companies to conduct seismic surveys in the Atlantic Ocean, reversing its previous stance.

Broker downgrades weighed on some of the top fallers. Centrica fell 5.8 percent after JP Morgan cut it to "underweight".

Analysts at the bank said they saw "significant downside" emerging through price regulation of the standard energy tariff, a policy proposal announced by Prime Minister May on Tuesday, and emerging evidence of a 'price war' with competitor Engie.

A rating cut from Citigroup sent German reinsurer Hannover Re (>> Hannover Rueck SE) down 5 percent.

German commercial broadcaster ProSiebensat (>> Prosiebensat 1 Media SE) fell 5.3 percent after it reported a disappointing advertising outlook.

It dragged on media stocks <.SXMP>, which fell 1.3 percent, the top sectoral fallers.

European shares were underpinned by strong corporate earnings, with 20 percent earnings growth for the first quarter so far. Two-thirds of European companies have reported and 70 percent beat expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.

(Reporting by Helen Reid, Editing by Vikram Subhedar)

By Helen Reid