European shares fell for a second session on Wednesday as oil prices back above $50 a barrel and mixed U.S. and German data added to economic worries and pushed investors towards more defensive stocks such as drugmakers. British retailers were among the worst performers, with GUS off 3 percent on a lack of a timeframe for planned demergers and after revised gross domestic product figures showed the British economy grew at its weakest rate in nearly two years in the first quarter, Reuters reported. But Capitalia bucked the weaker trend, surging 4 percent as Italy's fourth-largest bank by assets posted a forecast-topping 33.7 percent rise in first-quarter net profit. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European blue chips shed 0.13 percent to end unofficially at 1,094.5 points as doubts over the strength of the U.S. and European economies came to haunt markets again after a three-week rally of 3.5 percent. There was grim news coming from Germany as the Ifo institute's gauge of business confidence fell unexpectedly to its lowest level in almost two years in May. Coming after Monday's weak ZEW investor sentiment survey, it provided more evidence that growth in Europe's biggest economy slowed sharply in the second quarter and stoked debate on the outlook for euro zone interest rates. --More 2153 Local Time 1853 GMT
