* Daimler says emissions costs to hit 2020-21 margins
* Germany avoids recession, growing 0.1% q/q
* China, Japan numbers point to more weakness
* Qiagen soars on report of Thermo Fisher deal
(Updates to close, adds new quote)
By Agamoni Ghosh
Nov 14 (Reuters) - European shares closed lower on Thursday
as a warning from German carmaker Daimler and weak economic data
from major economies added to concerns about a global slowdown.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX slipped 0.3%, with
most sectors in the red and automakers .SXAP leading losses,
down 1.4%.
Daimler DAIGn.DE dropped about 3%, the biggest decline on
Germany's blue-chip index .GDAXI after the carmaker said
tougher emissions rules would hit earnings in 2020 and 2021. It
said it was cutting staff costs at its Mercedes-Benz business to
seek more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in savings.
"It's been well known that the shift to electric will be a
difficult one and there is a no real timeline on when the
companies will start seeing a turnaround," said Ken Odeluga,
market analyst at City Index in London.
Subdued global auto sales have hit German carmakers with
weakness in China - the biggest market - casting a pall, while a
new emissions-testing regime added to the sector's pains.
To add to the dour mood, Germany, Europe's biggest economy,
narrowly avoided slipping into recession in the third quarter,
while growth indicators from China and Japan remained weak,
stoking fears of a global slowdown. The gloom took European shares further away from a four-year
peak hit last week driven by optimism about the chances of a
'phase one' trade deal between the United States and China and
some better-than-expected earnings.
"The initial optimism that we were seeing for the first
phase to be completed seems to be a bit overoptimistic now as
there seem to be some stumbling blocks," said Michael Baker,
analyst at ETX Capital.
Defensive plays like utilities .SX6P , healthcare .SXDP
and telecoms .SXDP , which investors had taken refuge in
earlier in the week when trade uncertainties hit risk appetite,
started to wear out. All were down between 0.3% and 1%.
London's FTSE 100 .FTSE slid 0.8% as a 6% drop in private
equity company 3i III.L and a handful of stocks trading
ex-dividend overshadowed an earnings-driven jump in luxury brand
Burberry BRBY.L which climbed 3%. .L
STOXX 600's biggest gainer was genetic testing company
Qiagen QIA.DE , up 14% after Bloomberg reported scientific
instruments maker Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO.N had
approached the company about a potential deal.