Euro zone bank shares slip on report 25 to fail ECB stress tests

LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - European banking shares edged lower on Friday, with traders citing a Bloomberg News report that 25 banks within the euro zone would fail a European Central Bank "stress test".

The Euro STOXX Banking Index, which had been in positive territory earlier in the day, briefly fell as much as 0.6 percent to an intraday low of 141.42 points, before edging back to 142.28 points by 1255 GMT - down 0.1 percent on the day.

Asked to comment on the report, the ECB said: "The ECB can't comment on individual institutions or speculation. Any inferences drawn as to the final outcome of the exercise would be highly speculative until the results are final on the 26 October." (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Francesco Canepa, editing by Nigel Stephenson)