Oil majors lift European shares; U.S. Fed eyed

                                
* FTSEurofirst 300 up 1.4 pct, rebounds from Friday's losses
                                
 * Oil majors, miners strong as commodity prices rise
                                
 * U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting on Tuesday awaited
                                
 By Harpreet Bhal 
                                
 LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - European shares closed higher on
Monday, propelled by a boost to oil majors from strong crude
prices and lifted by speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve
may inject extra stimulus measures to spur the economy.
                                
 The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares
closed up 1.4 percent at 1,071.26 points after falling 1.1
percent on Friday when downbeat U.S. jobs data renewed jitters
over the pace of economic recovery.
                                
 Crude prices <CLc1> climbed above $81 a barrel on a weak
dollar, bringing gains for Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, Repsol
<REP.MC> and Total <TOTF.PA> of 1.5 to 2 percent.
                                
 BP <BP.L> rose 1.7 percent. The oil major's relief well is
expected to deliver a permanent kill of the blown-out Gulf of
Mexico well this week, unless an approaching weather system
disrupts the timing. [ID:nN0999867]
                                
 Investors anticipate that the Fed's meeting on Tuesday may
send a clear signal it is prepared if necessary to print more
money to support a faltering economic recovery. [ID:nN09301078]
 A disappointingly weak report on U.S. employment in July,
when the private sector added a meagre 71,000 new jobs,
bolstered expectations of more stimulus. [ID:nN05598486]
                                
 "Sentiment currently seems to be driven by the assumption
that latent weakness in the U.S. economy is going to force the
Fed's hand and see the introduction of further stimulus
measure," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index.
                                
 "But with some jitters remaining, it wouldn't take much to
knock this rally off track." 
                                
 Among other gainers, Spanish infrastructure group Abertis
<ABE.MC> added 3.4 percent. Spanish builder ACS <ACS.MC> is
reported to be on the verge of a deal which would let it partly
divest its stake in Abertis and focus on its core energy
investments. [ID:nLDE6780F5] 
                                
 Insurer Legal & General <LGEN.L> was up 3.6 percent, boosted
by a price target hike from Deutsche Bank in the wake of its
first-half results last week. 
                                
 Within the sector, Old Mutual <OML.L> added 2.6 percent
after a target price hike by broker UBS, while Prudential
<PRU.L>, ING Groep <ING.AS> and AEGON <AEGN.AS> rose 1.4 to 2.7
percent.

                                
 TECHNICAL CHARTS EYED
                                
 The Euro STOXX 50 <.STOXX50E> rose 1.7 percent to 2,827,27
points. The euro zone's blue-chip index had a positive trend as
it hovered above its 200-day moving average of 2,797 and a 61.8
percent Fibonacci retracement of 2,806 -- the index's fall from
a high in April to a low in May.
                                
 Bill McNamara, technical analyst at Charles Stanley, said
that last week's peak at 2,849 was the highest since the end of
April and a close above that level would act as a confirmation
that the recent bull trend is in good shape.
                                
 Miners drew strength from higher metals prices, with BHP
Billiton <BLT.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> and Vedanta Resources
<VED.L> rising 0.7 to 0.9 percent.
                                
 The market was also helped by comments by Zhang Yutai, head
of the Development Research Centre, a think-tank under China's
cabinet, who said the country's economy will enjoy a strong,
stable second half, putting it on course for full-year growth of
about 10 to 11 percent. [ID:nTOE673003]
                                
 Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <.FTSE>, Germany's DAX <.GDAXI>
and France's CAC 40 <.FCHI> rose 1.5 to 1.7 percent, while the
Thomson Reuters Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index
<.TRXFLDPIPU> was up 0.9 percent.
  (Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by David
Cowell)