Europe Power-French spot sheds strike premium

* Strike impact limited, reactors not affected

* German prompt up on slower wind speeds

* Curve trades sideways, fuels prices mixed

FRANKFURT, Oct 9 (Reuters) - European prompt power tradeddown in France on Tuesday as a one-day strike in the country'senergy sector looked set to end.

However, power prices were up in neighbouring Germany, whereday-ahead wind power levels were due to halve.

French contracts for Wednesday delivery lost the previousday's gains, which were made as traders covered ahead of the24-hour action launched by the CGT union in protest againstplanned job cuts and plant closures.

The action affected some E.ON coal and gas-fired plantswhich have a capacity of 3.2 gigawatts (GW), CGT said, but didnot put a figure on the capacity lost.

French day ahead baseload was down 2.85 euros on the day at53.25 euros ($69.00) a megawatt hour (MWh)

.

Germany's day ahead baseload contract was 5.40 euros up at51.25 euros

reflecting forecasts for wind power supplyto halve to around 5 GW on Wednesday, and fall further onThursday.

Despite the limited strike effect, nearby power prices inFrance kept a premium over Germany's equivalent positionsbecause capacity at its 58 nuclear reactors remains chronicallytight.

EDF's

915-MW Cruas 1 nuclear reactor stopped for anunplanned outage late on Monday, grid operator RTE showed on itswebsite.

French week ahead power supply is also priced much higherthan Germany's as colder weather is forecast in a countryheavily reliant on electric heating devices.

Along the forwards power curve, Germany's benchmark contractfor 2013 delivery

remained stable at 47.75 euros andthe same position in France was unchanged from Monday at 50.75euros.

In the fuel markets that are relevant to power, oil andcarbon prices were higher while gas traded sideways and coaldown.($1 = 0.7711 euros)

(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Alison Birrane)

(([e-mail])([phone])(ReutersMessaging: [e-mail]))

((Click on the following for information about European cashpower prices, outages and interconnector maintenance.FRANCE: baseload prices, outages,reportGERMANY: baseload prices, peakoutages, reportUK: baseload prices, outagesreportSWITZERLAND: outages, reservoir levelsNORDIC: reportEU CARBON PRICES

Interconnector maintenance diary:

((Xtraclients: Click on

to see Top News pages in multimedia Web format.))))

Keywords: MARKETS EUROPE/ELECTRICITY