* FTSEurofirst 300 flat as investors eye central banks
* New CEO choice boosts Unilever; BP gains on Russia move
* Commodities track oils, metals higher
By Sitaraman Shankar
LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - European shares traded flat early
on Thursday as investors stayed edgy ahead of key central bank
rate decisions, negating the effect of a surge in commodity
stocks and in Unilever <ULVR.L> on its choice of chief
executive.
At 0821 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was flat at 1,181.53 points, as weaker banks
offset firmer commodity and food stocks.
HSBC <HSBA.L> fell 1.6 percent and Commerzbank <CBKG.DE>
lost 0.8 percent.
Unilever jumped 6 percent to top percentage gainers across
Europe after it announced the appointment of Nestle <NESN.VX>
executive Paul Polman as its new head.
Shares in BP <BP.L> were the top weighted gainer, rising 4
percent after a source said that it was close to a deal to
settle a dispute over a Russian joint venture. BP later said a
memorandum of understanding on the issue had been signed.
Later in the day, investors will train their focus squarely
on interest rate decisions from the Bank of England at 1100 GMT
and the European Central Bank at 1145 GMT.
Both central banks are expected to stay on hold, but the ECB
may shake up collateral rules, putting a stop to banks swapping
complex, untraded and near impossible-to-value assets for ECB
funds.
"We're not expecting a great deal from the central banks
today -- the ECB will stress the fact that inflation remains
high," said Thierry Lacraz, strategist at Swiss bank Pictet.
"After the Australian central bank cut rates, we would
expect the English to follow, likely later this year, and the
ECB to cut at the beginning of next year."
"The next move of the Fed could be an increase -- they're
not part of the same cycle as the others," he said.
Sweden's central bank raised its key interest rate by a
quarter percentage point to 4.75 percent, focusing on
above-target inflation rather than slowing economic growth.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE <> was up 0.5 percent,
while Germany's DAX <> fell 0.6 percent and France's CAC
<> lost 0.4 percent.
COMMODITIES SURGE
Heavyweight oils and mining stocks were broadly stronger as
crude <CLc1> ticked 43 cents higher to $109.78 a barrel, gold
bounced and copper futures rose.
Antofagasta <ANTO.L> gained 2.9 percent and Kazakhmys
<KAZ.L> rose 2.5 percent, while Total <TOTF.PA> rose 2 percent
and Shell <RDSa.L> gained 1 percent.
Technology stocks weakened as investors fretted that an
economic slowdown would hurt tech spending. Nokia <NOK1V.HE>
fell 1.7 percent and STMicro <STM.PA> lost 2.1 percent.
French bank Natixis <CNAT.PA> was a standout gainer, jumping
7 percent as analysts bet on the success of its deeply
discounted rights issue.
Pictet's Lacraz said that he expected stocks to remain weak.
"September and October are traditionally not very good --
and we are entering the bank announcements season," he said.
Traders said investors were unlikely to make bets either way
before the central bank decisions.
"We expect Trichet to come out with strong language
suggesting Europe is in recession -- if you were a fund manager
sitting on 2 or 3 billion euros, would you be out there buying
ahead of such comments?" said a trader, referring to weakness in
bank stocks.
(Editing by Quentin Bryar)
