European shares end lower led by phone, technology stocks

(Updates with closing prices, details)

* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.4 pct, Euro STOXX 50 down 1 pct

* Altice (Other OTC: ATSVF - news) leads telecoms lower after capital raising move

* Trading remains volatile with Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) , VW turning lower

* Fiat Chrisler lifter by confidence over Ferrari listing

By Danilo Masoni

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 1 (Reuters) - European shares fell on Thursday, with phone stocks leading the way after a capital raising move at Altice to fund a U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . acquisition and technology stocks pressured by concerns over chip orders from Apple (Swiss: AAPL.SW - news) .

European shares changed direction as Wall Street opened lower, having earlier been supported by expectations China may do more to bolster its economy following a further decline in factory activity.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.41 percent while the euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index dropped 1 percent.

Concerns over the repercussions of an economic slowdown in China have helped to drive the pan-European index down almost 10 percent in the past three months, its worst quarterly drop in four years.

"Emerging markets are much more important for the global economy than they were during (their) previous crisis in 1997-98. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) will be harder now to prevent the crisis from having a significant impact on Europe and the U.S.," broker Equita said.

"Events in the last few weeks have convinced us stock markets firmly remain in a negative phase," it added.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Altice fell 9.3 percent as the telecoms group launched a tougher-than-expected debt and equity capital raising to fund its takeover of Cablevision.

Elsewhere in the sector Deutsche Telekom (Xetra: 555750 - news) lost 5.2 percent and Telecom Italia (Other OTC: TIAJF - news) declined 4.4 percent. According to analysts at Market Insight, concerns over the growing debt pile at Altice could weaken the M&A trend in the telecoms sector.

Technology shares were the second biggest sectoral faller with a 1.4 percent slide. ASML and Dialog led the decline after a report in technology website DigiTimes said iPhone chipmakers were concerned Apple would cut its chip orders for the fourth quarter.

Oil companies were the biggest gainer, advancing 1.3 percent as the price of crude rose.

Glencore, whose shares have been hit this week by questions over its debt, resumed its slide with an 0.6 percent fall despite its assurances that debt-cutting plans remain on track.

The stock had rallied earlier on upbeat broker notes from Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) and Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) and traders blamed the return of hedge funds and short-sellers for the renewed losses.

Volkswagen (Other OTC: VLKAF - news) shares fell 1.3 percent, giving up initial gains, as the company said it would take longer than expected to investigate its rigging of vehicle emissions tests, raising the prospect of months of uncertainty.

Milan-listed shares in Fiat Chrysler rose 2.2 percent as brokers expressed confidence over a planned stock market listing of the carmaker's luxury sports Ferrari brand.

Today's European research round-up (Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Alexandre Boksenbaum-Granier in Paris, editing by Larry King/Ruth Pitchford)