European shares dip as new batch of Q3 earnings unveils disappointments

(ADVISORY- Follow European and UK stock markets in real time on the Reuters Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets)

* FTSEurofirst 300 // XX pct, Euro STOXX 50 // pct

LONDON, Oct (Shenzhen: 000069.SZ - news) 19 (Reuters) - European shares edged down across most bourses and sectors on Thursday as a new batch of third-quarter results brought in some disappointments to investors, notably forecast misses from France's Publicis (Paris: FR0000130577 - news) , Dutch-British Unilever and Germany's Kion.

By 0715 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX index) was down 0.2 percent, London's FTSE slid 0.3 percent, Paris's CAC 40 retreated 0.1 percent and Frankfurt's DAX was just slightly in the red with a 0.1 decrease.

Madrid's IBEX was flat as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is expected to impose direct rule in Catalonia unless the region's leader Carles Puigdemont retracts by 0800 GMT an ambiguous declaration of independence made last week.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in advertising group Publicis fell more than 5 percent after third-quarter sales were below market forecasts, while German forklift truck and robotics maker Kion was down 9.2 percent after it cut its 2017 guidance.

Unilever (NYSE: UL - news) fell 3.2 percent as its underlying sales growth missed analysts' consensus. (Reporting by Julien Ponthus; Editing by Georgina Prodhan)