* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.5 pct, Euro STOXX 50 down 0.3 pct
* Stellar IBM, Apple, ASML results fail to fuel rally
* Correction seen as indexes getting 'overbought'
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on
By Blaise Robinson
PARIS, Jan 19 (Reuters) - European stocks fell on Wednesday after stellar results from tech bellwethers Apple, ASML and IBM failed to fuel the market's brisk rally, with technical indicators signalling a pull-back.
At 1140 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.5 percent at 1,162.50, after a 28-month closing high in the previous session.
European mining stocks, among the top gainers over the past six months, featured among the biggest losers on Wednesday, despite rising metal prices.
Xstrata fell 1.3 percent, Anglo American was down 1 percent and Rio Tinto down 0.8 percent.
The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index -- which had jumped 7 percent in six sessions -- was down 0.3 percent at 2,936.53.
The index had been close to being 'overbought', with its relative strength index (RSI) at 64 on Wednesday -- 70 and above is considered 'overbought territory' -- while its slow stochastic, an indicator of short-term trends, showed the index was ripe for a pull-back.
"We are losing steam. The rise since December has been almost uninterrupted, with very few consolidation sessions. The optimism is reaching a paroxysm, which is never a good sign," said Alexandre Le Drogoff, technical analyst at Aurel BGC in Paris.
"The S&P 500 is now running into major resistance at 1,300 points while the VIX is at a floor. I would not be surprised to see a correction of around 10 percent across the board."
U.S. benchmark index S&P 500's RSI hit 77.3 on Tuesday. The index, which has surged 23 percent since August, ended at 1,295.02 on Tuesday, a hair below the psychologically important level of 1,300 last seen in September 2008.
Banking stocks, which have had a strong run since the start of the year, also lost ground on Wednesday, with Barclays down 1.4 percent and Credit Suisse down 0.8 percent.
A number of market players, however, see the upcoming European earnings season as a positive catalyst that could propel stocks higher.
"This has been a trader's market, not driven by fund inflows. Earnings are not bad at all, macro data is relatively good, so I do not feel like closing positions at this point," said David Thebault, head of quantitative sales trading at Global Equities in Paris.
"The Euro STOXX 50 index is still in its uptrend channel started in May. It might retreat a bit, but there are many strong support levels," he said.
Around Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index was down 0.4 percent, Germany's DAX index was down 0.1 percent and France's CAC 40 down 0.3 percent.
The Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index was up 0.7 percent, after a sharp drop in Portugal's 12-month borrowing costs as well as news Germany was considering a restructuring of Greece's debt helped ease concern over the euro zone debt crisis.
Officials in Germany's finance ministry were working on contingency plans to handle the fallout if Greece defaulted or needed to restructure its debt, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
European truckmakers fell after saying their offices were raided by European antitrust authorities in a cartel probe.
European Union authorities launched the cartel raids on Tuesday after markets closed on truck manufacturers including Daimler, MAN, Scania and Volvo. The companies' stocks were down 1.1-2.5 percent.
French construction group Eiffage gained 5.9 percent after winning a 3.4 billion euro contract to build a high-speed train line, while shares in rival Bouygues, which had been seen as the favorite to win the deal, fell 2 percent. (Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Dan Lalor)