* FTSEurofirst 300 flat around midday
* Telecom shares boosted by upbeat broker note
* Greek banking stocks drop after Moody's downgrade
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By Blaise Robinson
PARIS, March 8 (Reuters) - European stocks were broadly flat around midday on Tuesday, halting an almost uninterrupted two-week retreat, helped by a pause in the rise of oil prices and a buoyant telecoms stocks after an upbeat broker note.
Greek shares sank, however, with National Bank down 3.6 percent and EFG Eurobank down 4.2 percent, a day after Moody's cut Greece's credit rating by three notches, raising the spectre of a debt restructuring. Greek markets were closed on Monday.
At 1245 GMT the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.03 percent at 1,143.44 points, as investors took a breather from a two-week retreat sparked by rising violence in oil-rich Libya.
The index is down about 4 percent since reaching a 29-month high on Feb. 18, while U.S. crude oil prices have gained more than 20 percent over the same period.
A number of fund managers said that despite the sharp rise in geopolitical risks, equities haven't suffered a real correction because of strong inflows into the asset class.
"Massive inflows into equities so far this quarter have been really supportive for stocks. We're on track for the strongest quarterly inflow since the first quarter of 2007," said Jean-Yves Dumont, head of asset allocation strategy and funds at Dexia Asset Management.
"People are pricing in durable growth, but on the other side, there are inflation risks, risks that social unrest spread in the Middle East, and also the fact that the Fed should remove liquidity next June, which will have a big impact on inflows into the asset class."
Dexia Asset Management, which has about 86 billion euros in assets under management, turned "underweight" on equities a few weeks ago, Dumont said.
Telecoms stocks rallied on Tuesday, with BT Group up 2.8 percent, Vodafone up 2.1 percent and Telecom Italia up 1.5 percent, buoyed by an upbeat research note from Morgan Stanley, traders said.
The broker raised its overall stance on European telecoms services to "attractive", saying downside risks in the sector were less pronounced, traders said.
Around Europe, UK's FTSE 100 index was down 0.3 percent, dragged lower by retreating mining shares such as Rio Tinto, down 2.1 percent, and Xstrata down 2.5 percent.
Germany's DAX index was down 0.2 percent, while France's CAC 40 was up 0.1 percent.
"We still see brisk inflows into equities as people continue to move out of money markets and into stocks, seeking better returns. Yet, European stock valuations remain attractive," said Marc Renaud, president and fund manager at Paris-based Mandarine Gestion, which has 1.8 billion euros in assets under management.
"Fears about rising inflation and social unrest in emerging economies have somewhat reduced the market's enthusiasm for emerging equities in the short term, which helps the case for European stocks," he said. (Additional reporting by Jon Hopkins in London; Editing by Will Waterman)