* FTSEurofirst 300 index slips 0.5 percent
* Miners down on surprise Chinese rate move
* SKF gains after it raises financials goals
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - European shares fell on Tuesday after China announced a surprise rise in interest rates, raising fears of a slowdown in global growth and pushing miners lower.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares closed down 0.5 percent at 1,082.96 points. The index had risen since late Friday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted more monetary stimulus was on the way.
China's central bank surprised with its first increase in interest rates in nearly three years, a move that reflects concern about resurgent asset prices and could mark the start of a more aggressive phase of monetary tightening in the world's fastest-growing major economy.
The China rates news made investors nervous, Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets in Brussels, said.
"It is now a tug of war between China taking liquidity out the market and the Federal Reserve putting liquidity back in possibly through quantitative easing. It is difficult to predict whether this is the start of a market reversal," he added.
Mining stocks, which have performed well on China's economic growth, slipped as copper tumbled. The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Materials fell 2.5 percent, with Xstrata also hit by mixed quarterly output figures.
Technology stocks featured among the worst performers after disappointing results from U.S. consumer and technology titans Apple and IBM. ARM Holdings, Infineon and Logica shed between 1.8 and 2.6 percent. Meanwhile, British defence firm Babcock slipped 4.8 percent after British Prime Minister David Cameron outlined the extent of defence budget cuts, while BAE Systems fell 1.6. Plane maker EADS gained 1.5 percent after Cameron committed to the A400M military transport aircraft.
SKF GAINS
Top world bearings maker SKF jumped 10.2 percent after it raised its financial goals after forecast-beating earnings and a $1 billion acquisition. Banking stocks also gave some support to the index after strong results from both Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. The STOXX Europe 600 Banks index was up 0.5 percent.
"Industrials and financials are strong and there's money coming into the market. Sentiment is better among the Greek banks, with EFG Eurobank being able to use some of the Greek bonds as collateral," Colin McLean, managing director at fund manager SVM in Edinburgh, said.
EFG rose 3.8 percent and the Greek banking sector index was up 2.1 percent. Banco Santander, Societe Generale and UBS rose between 0.8 and 1.7 percent.
According to Thomson Reuters StarMine data, the banking sector has one of the highest one-year forward earnings growth at 48.7 percent compared with the STOXX 600 index at 19.9 percent.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was down 0.7 percent, Germany's DAX was 0.4 percent lower and France's CAC 40 fell 0.7 percent.
(Additional reporting by Brian Gorman; Editing by Erica Billingham)