* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.1 percent
* Oils, miners fall on lower commodity prices
* RBS, Credit Agricole, BASF gain after results
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - European shares rose in early
trade on Thursday, with gains for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
<RBS.L> and Credit Agricole <CAGR.PA>, after they reported
results, outweighing lower commodity stocks.
At 1014 GMT, the pan-European index <> was up 0.1
percent at 1,014.74 points. The European benchmark is up more
than 57 percent from its lifetime low on March 9, but is down
5.6 percent from a 15-month peak it reached last month.
A raft of companies reported results, which mostly boosted
shares. This included Royal Bank of Scotland and Credit
Agricole, up 7.3 and 4.2 percent respectively.
RBS shrank its 2009 operating loss to 6.2 billion pounds
($9.5 billion), still one of the largest European banking losses
for the year, despite a jump in bad debts which the bank says
may have peaked. []
Other banks to rise included Lloyds <LLOY.L>, which reports
on Friday, up 1.4 percent.
The gains in heavyweight bank shares offset negative
sentiment over Greece's debt problems.
Moody's Investors Service said any changes in its ratings on
Greece would depend on whether Athens was smoothly enacting its
fiscal reform plans as promised. Standard & Poor's said on
Wednesday it may downgrade Greece's BBB-plus rating by one or
two notches within a month. []
"This keeps the tensions within the euro zone at the
forefront of the minds of equity investors, and it will continue
to burden equity markets," said Tammo Greetfeld, equity
strategist at UniCredit Group.
"But looking at the cyclical backdrop, equity markets can
still move higher in the course of the next few weeks, and
months," he added.
Commodity shares fell on weaker raw material prices, which
were hurt by a firmer dollar.
Among miners, Anglo American <AAL.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L>,
BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L>
fell between 1.1 and 1.4 percent.
BP <BP.L> and Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> fell 0.3 and 0.6
percent, respectively.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <>, France's CAC 40
<> and Germany's DAX <> were up between 0.2 and 0.6
percent.
BASF GAINS
Quarterly results at German chemicals group BASF beat
estimates, and the shares rose 4.8 percent. It forecast
considerable operating profit gains this year amid a shaky
recovery on higher chemicals and plastics sales volumes.
[]
France Telecom <FTE.PA> rose 2.6 percent after confirming
its objectives for this year and posting in-line revenues and
operating profits for 2009 amid major change at the group as its
incoming CEO named a new management team. []
But British American Tobacco Plc <BATS.L>, the world's
second-biggest cigarette maker, fell 1.9 percent even as it
reported signs that global economies were starting to improve as
it matched forecasts with a 19 percent rise in annual earnings.
German unemployment rose in February by 7,000 from the
previous month to a seasonally adjusted 3.433 million, the
Federal Labour Office said on Thursday. Economists polled by
Reuters had forecast the adjusted jobless total would increase
by 19,000 on the month. []
Euro zone economic sentiment eased marginally in February
against January, defying market expectations of a small rise as
more pessimism among households and in the retail sector offset
gains in industry and services.
Later, investors will look at weekly U.S. jobless data.
On Wednesday, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke pledged
to keep interest rates low though traders said tandem remarks
about an uncertain economic recovery are weighing on the market.
(Editing by Sharon Lindores)
