* FTSEurofirst 300 closes 2.6 percent lower
* U.S. jobless well above forecast; ECB holds rates
* Elan soars after J&J takes stake
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - European shares closed lower on Thursday after U.S. employers cut far more jobs than expected, casting further doubt on the strength of economic recovery.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 2.6 percent to close at 843.0 points, the day's low.
The European benchmark index is still up more than 30 percent from its lifetime low of March 9, but the rally has stalled in recent weeks.
The U.S. labour market continues to struggle with a deep recession. The loss of 467,000 jobs in June compared with the 363,000 consensus of Wall Street economists polled by Reuters and broke a four-month trend of moderation in job losses.
The unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, though initial claims fell by 16,000 last week.
"Clearly the market is concerned about the unemployment data," said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin Securities, in London. "And there's a sense of disappointment at the inability of the market to sustain the momentum to hold key psychological levels."
The Euro zone jobless rate, also 9.5 percent, was a 10-year high in May, data showed on Thursday.
The European Central Bank kept euro zone interest rates at 1.0 percent, bolstering expectations they will stay there well into next year, and said it would start buying bonds next week.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet gave no sign the ECB was planning to move rates from the current record low level soon, saying they remained "appropriate". He left the door open for further cuts if needed.
The rate decision had been predicted.
Earlier Sweden's central bank shocked markets though by cutting its interest rates by a further 25 basis points to 0.25 percent.
The heavyweight banking sector took most points off the index. BNP Paribas, Banco Santander, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse , Societe Generale, UBS and UniCredit fell between 1.8 and 6.5 percent.
ENERGY SHARES FALL
The price of crude oil fell more than $2 to below $67 a barrel, hit by a bigger-than-expected rise in U.S. gasoline stocks. It was further pressured by the unemployment data, as was the price of copper and other metals.
BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total closed between 1.9 and 3.8 percent lower.
Among miners, Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata fell between 4.2 and 5.8 percent.
Elan Corp soared 24.6 percent after Johnson & Johnson said it would take over most of the company's Alzheimer's research and invest $1 billion in new shares. J&J will have an 18.4 percent stake in the Irish drugmaker.
But the pharmaceutical sector was generally lower. GlaxoSmithKline, which said it would buy Bristol-Myers Squibb's branded generics drugs business in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Libya and Yemen for $23.2 million, fell 2.8 percent.
Two major operators of exchanges felt the effect of announcements they made late on Wednesday.
Frankfurt's stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse fell 6.2 percent after it said that turnover on its electronic order book Xetra fell 50 percent in June to 81.7 billion euros.
London Stock Exchange dropped 5.5 percent after it announced a new pricing scheme, cutting fees, in its latest attempt to improve trading.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 fell between 2.5 and 3.8 percent. Wall Street was lower as European bourses were closing. The monthly jobless data, normally announced on a Friday, was brought forward due to Friday's Independence Day holiday. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were down between 2 and 2.5 percent. (Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)