LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - European shares were lower on Thursday as traders await details of the European Central Bank's two-day monetary policy meeting, and its plans to fight inflation, while Royal Dutch Shell fell after quarterly results lagged expectations.
By 0811 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.1 percent at 1,161.37 points after gaining in the previous two sessions.
"Investors will be focused on the ECB meeting and want a clear cut statement on how it plans to combat inflation," Heino Ruland, strategist at Ruland Research in Frankfurt said.
"We have seen a lot of companies complain about rising input costs and how these are now going to be passed onto the customer. This is not good news and inflation needs to be tackled."
Royal Dutch Shell slipped 3 percent after results fell short of market expectations.
However, Nordic and emerging market telecoms firm TeliaSonera gained 3.3 percent after the company said it would buy back around 10 billion crowns ($1.56 billion) of stock. (Reporting by Joanne Frearson)