March 3 (Bloomberg) -- European airline and utilities stocks fell as oil traded near a four-month high, stoking concern that higher energy costs may erode profits. Air France-KLM Group and RWE AG declined.

``It is worrying to see oil prices soaring once again,'' said Hector Robello, an analyst at Banca Privada D'Andorra SA in Andorra, which manages $526 million in assets. ``Those industries that are intensive consumers of energy may suffer.''

Energy shares such as BP Plc gained on optimism oil near $53 a barrel will sustain earnings. AstraZeneca Plc led drug stocks higher after U.S. regulators said its cholesterol treatment Crestor isn't riskier than similar compounds.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index lost less than 0.1 percent to 266.15 as of 11:35 a.m. in London. The Stoxx 50 Index added 0.2 percent and the Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the 12 countries using the euro, dropped 0.1 percent.

Rising fuel prices may increase costs for companies and damp economic growth. Stocks in the U.S. yesterday erased gains after European exchanges closed, as soaring oil prices outweighed remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that eased concern about the pace of interest-rate increases.

Benchmark indexes slid in 10 of the 18 Western European markets. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index added 0.5 percent. Germany's DAX Index fell 0.2 percent and France's CAC 40 Index declined 0.1 percent. March futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.4 percent.

Crude oil climbed 2.7 percent yesterday to $53.05 a barrel in New York, the highest closing price since Oct. 26, on concern output isn't keeping up with demand. Oil fell 0.1 percent to $53.04 today. Prices are up 48 percent from a year ago. Oil reached a record-high intraday price of $55.67 on Oct. 25.

Airlines Decline

Air France, Europe's biggest airline, dropped 1.7 percent to 14.29 euros. Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA, Spain's biggest, declined 1.9 percent to 2.6 euros.

RWE, Europe's third-largest utility, dropped 1.5 percent to 44.19 euros. The company said last week it expects profit growth to slow this year as the new German power regulator may curb price increases in electricity aimed at passing on higher costs for heating oil and coal.

Union Fenosa SA, Spain's third-biggest power utility, declined 1.3 percent to 21.03 euros. Analysts at Deutsche Bank AG cut their recommendation on the stock to ``hold'' from ``buy,'' citing higher financial expenses.

Service industries in the 12 nations sharing the euro expanded more slowly in February than in the previous month as rising unemployment deterred consumer spending and higher oil prices held back manufacturing growth, a report showed.

U.S. Benchmarks Fall

The Dow Jones Industrial Average in the U.S. dropped 0.2 percent yesterday after rising as much as 0.4 percent in the session. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index, also up as much as 0.4 percent, ended down less than 0.1 percent after European trading ended. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 0.2 percent.

BP Plc, Europe's biggest oil company, rose 1.8 percent to 572 pence. Saipem SpA, Europe's second-largest oilfield-services company, gained 1.9 percent to 10.19 euros.

``The fact that oil seems to remain high will be positive for these stocks,'' said James Buckley, a fund manager at Premier Asset Management Plc in Guildford, U.K., which oversees $1.3 billion. He said he ``selectively'' owns oil stocks such as Total SA and prefers shares of oil-services companies including Saipem, ``because they are a good play on the oil price.''

AstraZeneca's Crestor

AstraZeneca, Europe's third-biggest pharmaceuticals company, jumped 4.3 percent to 2,163 pence, leading gains on the Stoxx 600. Crestor is no more dangerous than similar treatments such as Pfizer Inc.'s Lipitor, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said yesterday.

The ruling may ease concerns about the cholesterol drug, which was singled out by the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen and by FDA medical reviewer David Graham as being more likely to cause kidney and muscle damage than rival medicines. Doctors should still be careful and use lower doses when starting new patients on Crestor to reduce risks, the FDA said.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Europe's largest drugmaker, rose 2.7 percent to 1,316 pence. Credit Suisse First Boston raised its earnings estimate for the company, citing potential sales for Glaxo's cervical-cancer vaccine Cervarix.

Interest Rates

The European Central Bank will probably leave borrowing costs at a six-decade low as economic growth and inflation slow in the 12 countries that use the euro, a Bloomberg survey of 34 economists showed. An announcement is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. Frankfurt time.

Chipmakers including STMicroelectronics NV dropped after Hynix Semiconductor Inc. of South Korea posted fourth-quarter profit that missed analysts' estimates.

STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, lost 1.1 percent to 13.74 euros. Shares of Hynix, the world's second-largest memory-chip maker, plunged on concern falling prices will erode earnings.

Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's second-largest chipmaker, lost 1.8 percent to 7.86 euros after Merrill Lynch & Co. cut its 2005 earnings estimates on the company to 20 cents per share from 29 cents, citing lower prices for memory chips.

Aegon NV fell 1.2 percent to 10.82 euros. The second-biggest Dutch insurer said pretax earnings at the life unit fell 2 percent to 427 million euros, hurt by a 37 percent drop at the life-insurance business. Earnings before taxes at the accident and health division slid 23 percent.

The company's fourth-quarter net profit rose 58 percent to 425 million euros as gains from investments outweighed lower earnings from its life insurance division. That beat the 392 million-euro median estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Havas, Thomson

Havas SA added 2.2 percent to 4.56 euros. The world's sixth- largest advertising company reported a second-half profit of 20 million euros after advertisers spent more and the company didn't repeat costs to cut jobs and shut units. The net income compares with a loss of 338 million euros a year earlier.

Thomson SA added 1.4 percent to 20.20 euros. The world's largest maker of television decoders and recorded DVDs posted a second-half loss because it had costs to prepare for an exit from the television-tube business. The net loss was 447 million euros, compared with profit of 118 million euros a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Getronics NV rose 4.1 percent to 2.04 euros. The largest Dutch corporate computer-network services provider said fourth- quarter profit rose 14 percent as it reined in spending to compensate for a drop in sales.

Trinity Mirror Plc jumped 4.9 percent to 718.5 pence. The publisher of the British tabloid Daily Mirror announced its first- ever share buyback after reporting a second-half profit of 73.9 million pounds, compared with a loss of 41.7 million pounds a year earlier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexis Xydias in London at axydias@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 3, 2005 06:50 EST