European shares ended on a weak note on Thursday as oil climbed back near $50 a barrel, denting travel stocks, and a product recall from U.S. drug giant Merck & Co. rattled drugmakers. Telecoms firms bucked the weaker trend, with mobile phone giant Vodafone rising 1 percent to 131 pence as JP Morgan added the company to its model portfolio. British mobile rival mm02 also rose, up 2.6 percent to 98 1/4p after increasing its full-year revenue growth target. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European blue chips closed 0.7 percent weaker at 986.9 points on hefty turnover of around 3.3 billion euros ($4.1 billion). The FTSEurofirst 300 ended the third quarter down about 1 percent, ending a run of five consecutive quarters of gains since the index hit a low of 681 points in March, 2003. "I don't think this is the start of a broad-based decline in share prices," said Joerg Kraemer, chief strategist at Invesco Asset Management. "Our valuation tools suggest that markets are significantly undervalued. Markets are nearly flat year-to-date, but firms in the euro zone managed to raise profits by roughly 40 percent." --More 2300 Local Time 2000 GMT
