European shares fell for a second straight day on Tuesday, with investors cutting their exposure to riskier assets after Moody's warned on France's rating outlook and Chinese data showed growth in the world's second biggest economy slowed.

At 0705 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> was down 1.1 percent at 955.09 points after falling 1 percent on Monday as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said it was unrealistic to expect a definitive solution to the euro zone debt crisis at an EU summit this weekend.

Investors' resolve is being tested quite considerably. The situation in Europe is still overhanging in a very large fashion and the Chinese data does add another tick in the box of worries for investors to digest, said Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

The kind of backdrop we have got at the moment is creating ideal conditions for people to take profits.

China grew at its weakest pace since early 2009 in the third quarter, while Moody's warned it may slap a negative outlook on France's Aaa credit rating in the next three months if the costs for helping to bail out banks and other euro zone members stretch its budget too much.

Miners featured among the top losers, with the sector index <.SXPP> falling 3.1 percent, tracking weaker metals prices that fell on demand concerns following China's growth data.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash)

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