European shares retreated on Tuesday, dragged down by a drop in HSBC as concerns about its U.S. consumer finance unit offset news of a hefty dividend pay-out by mobile phone titan Vodafone. HSBC was Europe's top blue-chip loser, down 3.1 percent after the bank's key U.S. operations showed a slide in earnings and margin pressures, analysts said. "With the share price hitting a three-year high yesterday we needed newsflow to catch up with valuation and unfortunately we don't appear to have this," Barclays Private Clients said in a note. By 1220 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index was 0.34 percent weaker at 1,030.1 points and the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.28 percent to 2,889.9 points. Vodafone pared early gains, but was still up 0.35 percent as the company doubled its half-year dividend and extended a full-year share buy-back programme. Some traders said a consolidation in the market was likely after the recent rally, fuelled by a descent in oil prices from record highs of $55.65 struck three weeks ago. The FTSE Eurofirst index had put on as much as 6 percent from late October to hit a 28-month high of 1,040.55 points on Monday. "We've had a sharp run-up last week and markets just seem to be struggling to find the next catalyst to head higher," said a dealer at a European brokerage. --More 1915 Local Time 1615 GMT
