* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.6 pct, adds to Wednesday's recovery
* Chinese data, Spanish auction help boost sentiment
* BoE, ECB keep rates on hold; eyes on ECB presser
* BP extends slump on fears about dividend, more regulation
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on [
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By Blaise Robinson
PARIS, June 10 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Thursday, helped by strong Chinese trade data while concerns over Europe's debt eased after positive comments from China's national pension fund on the euro and strong demand at a Spanish debt auction.
Investors were bracing for the European Central Bank's news conference, expected to start at 1230 GMT, after it kept interest rates on hold. The Bank of England also kept rates on hold and left its 200 billion pounds of quantitative easing purchases unchanged on Thursday, as expected.
At 1153 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <
> index of top European shares was up 0.6 percent at 1,004.35 points, after reversing an early decline.Data showed China's exports surged in May while imports also grew robustly, reassuring investors about the economy's momentum despite government steps to cool the red-hot property market. [
]Also lifting investor confidence in Europe, the Chinese national pension fund chief said the euro would be able to weather the sovereign debt crisis, triggering a rebound in the euro from the day's lows, while Spain sold 3.9 billion euros of new three-year government bonds on Thursday, which analysts said met with strong demand.
The Thomson Reuters Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index <.TRXFLDPIPU> rose 1.1 percent.
Banking stocks -- Europe's worst performers so far this year -- gained ground, with BBVA <BBVA.MC> up 1.8 percent, Banco Popolare <BAPO.MI> up 1.9 percent and BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA> up 1.8 percent.
Investors braced for the ECB's press conference, during which it will face a grilling on the region's debt crisis after a hectic month in which it has abandoned resistance to buying government debt and flung its exit strategy into reverse. [
]"ECB's 'fighting-inflation' focus over the past decade has been a failure, debt-to-GDP ratios in the euro zone have exploded," said Yves Bonzon, chief investment officer of Pictet.
"Allowing inflation to creep up would help growth."
Shares in oil major BP <BP.L> dropped 4.8 percent -- extending their slump to more than 40 percent since its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico started in mid-April -- as the company faces mounting pressure from U.S. officials to suspend their dividend and fears grow of tighter regulation of the industry in the wake of the disaster.
Around Europe, UK's FTSE 100 index <
> was up 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX index < > up 0.3 percent, and France's CAC 40 < > up 0.6 percent. (Editing by Simon Jessop)