European shares up in early trade on banks and energy (Reuters) (18-02-2008)

LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - European shares opened higher on Monday, on gains from British banks and oil stocks, which helped recover some of the losses in the previous session.

At 0818 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.9 percent at 1,320.7 points.

Banks were the top gainers, as Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB rose by 3.4-4.4 percent after the Sunday Times reported they will increase their dividends and after the British government decision to nationalize Northern Rock and on dividend hopes.

Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, rallied in Zurich. It rose by 2.8 percent to 56.55 francs. Qatar is accumulating shares in Credit Suisse and plans to spend as much as $15 billion on European and U.S. bank stocks over the next year, the Gulf state's prime minister said in an interview late yesterday in Doha.

Sheikh Hamad bin Jasim bin Jaber al-Thani, who is also chief executive officer of the Qatar Investment Authority, said “We have a relation with Credit Suisse and we bought some of the stock from the market, actually, but I cannot say what percentage because still we are in the process”.

Energy stocks tracked crude prices higher, with BP up 1.3 percent and Royal Dutch Shell up 1.4 percent.

Nevertheless, analysts believe that rallies would be brief and the overall tone in the market was still negative in the wake of bank write-down's stemming from a credit crisis.

Scandal-hit French bank Societe Generale, which is said to be considering a Banque Postale deal, and rival BNP Paribas, as well as Britain's Barclays report results later this week. Northern Rock shares were suspended after the U.K. government said on Sunday that it intends to nationalize the embattled lender.

U.S. markets are closed for Presidents Day.

Source: Reuters