European shares inch higher; Sanofi drops again

* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.3 pct, Euro STOXX 50 up 0.1 pct

* Fugro (Xetra: A0ET3V - news) tumbles 21 pct after saying it won't pay dividend

* STMicro drops after warning on revenue

By Blaise Robinson

PARIS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - European stocks inched higher

early on Wednesday, tracking sharp gains on Wall Street ahead of

a U.S. Federal Reserve policy announcement.

At 0900 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top

European shares was up 0.3 percent at 1,321.07 points, led by

miners including Rio Tinto (Xetra: 855018 - news) and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) , up

0.9-1.1 percent and climbing along with metals prices.

France's Schneider Electric rose 3.1 percent after

reporting a 7 percent rise in third-quarter sales and saying

Western Europe showed long-awaited but fragile signs of

stabilisation.

French pharma group Sanofi (NasdaqGM: GCVRZ - news) dropped 3.7 percent,

adding to the previous session's slump after its board said on

Wednesday it had decided to oust chief executive Chris

Viehbacher.

"This creates more uncertainty just after the group

published results and outlook figures which were not

reassuring," a Paris-based trader said.

Dutch marine services group Fugro sank 20 percent

after it warned that it will not pay a dividend over 2014 due to

deteriorating markets and price pressure on oil and gas

projects. The news knocked the shares of peers Saipem (Other OTC: SAPMY - news) ,

CGG (NYSE: CGG - news) and Subsea, down 1.8-4.4 percent.

Europe's largest semiconductor company STMicroelectronics

shed 7 percent after posting higher than expected

quarterly net profit but saying margins would be flat and

revenue would decline in the final quarter due to a softening

market.

Around Europe, the UK's FTSE 100 index was up 0.7

percent, Germany's DAX index up 0.7 percent, and

France's CAC 40 up 0.1 percent.

When it concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday, the Fed is

expected to announce the end of its bond-buying stimulus while

restating its willingness to wait before hiking interest rates,

which should reassure markets.

"All eyes are on the Fed, which is set to announce the end

of quantitative easing. Investors will certainly remain cautious

ahead of the statement," Barclays France fund manager Philippe

Cohen said.

U.S. stocks rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday, with the

S&P 500 ending above its 50-day moving average for the

first time in almost a month, helped by strong quarterly results

from a number of blue-chips.

About a third of companies listed on the STOXX Europe 600

benchmark index have reported results so far in the

earnings season, with 67 percent of them meeting or beating

profit forecasts, and 59 percent meeting or beating revenue

forecasts, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine data.

In absolute terms, European companies have posted a 13.6

percent rise in quarterly earnings, and a 0.7 percent rise in

revenue.

Europe bourses in 2014: http://link.reuters.com/pap87v

Asset performance in 2014: http://link.reuters.com/gap87v

Today's European research round-up

(editing by John Stonestreet)