News: RIO European shares ease from eight-month high as miners weigh

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April 17 (Reuters) - European shares dipped on Wednesday after hitting eight-month highs in the previous session, as analysts said it was too early to call a recovery in China despite the world's second largest economy's better-than-expected first-quarter GDP growth.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX was down 0.1 percent by 0726 GMT after five straight days of gains. Among country indexes, Italy's .FTMIB posted a modest rise.

China's economy grew 6.4 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, defying expectations for a further slowdown, as industrial production jumped sharply and consumer demand showed signs of improvement.

Analysts said it was too early to call a sustainable turnaround there, and further policy support would be needed to maintain momentum.

BHP Group PLC BHPB.L fell 2.7 percent, weighing heavily on London's FTSE .FTSE and the STOXX 600 as the world's biggest miner cut its forecast for iron ore output, a day after rival Rio Tinto RIO.L slashed its output guidance.

The basic resources .SXPP sector dropped 1.4 percent. Bunzl BNZL.L was the worst performer on the pan-European index, down about 12 percent after the business supplies distributor said first-quarter growth slowed as the grocery and retail business in its biggest market - North America - remained sluggish.

Roche ROG.S rose 1.2 percent as the Swiss drugmaker raised its 2019 outlook after first-quarter sales beat analyst forecasts.

ASML Holding ASML.AS rose more than 1 percent after the semiconductor equipment maker reported better-than-expected first quarter earnings and repeated it expects growth to accelerate through the year.

European chip stocks - AMS AMS.S , STMicro STM.MI , Dialog Semi DLGS.DE , Siltronic WAFGn.DE - were up between 0.4 percent and 3 percent after U.S. peer Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O surged on Tuesday on an iPhone modem chips deal with Apple Inc AAPL.O .

Commerzbank CBKG.DE shares rose 2.6 percent after a media report that Dutch bank ING INGA.AS added its name to a list of merger suitors. That followed approaches by Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE and Italy's UniCredit CRDI.MI