* FTSEurofirst 300 closes up 0.8 pct at 859.58 points
* Oil shares forge higher
* European stocks pare gains after Wall Street slides
By Rebekah Curtis
LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - European stocks closed higher on
Friday as oil shares stormed ahead, but the day's rally lost
some steam as weak U.S. data pushed Wall Street into the red.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
ended up 0.8 percent at 859.58 points.
But the benchmark index has lost more than 40 percent so far
this year as a spreading financial crisis has brought the world
economy onto the brink of recession.
Chris Bennett, senior trader at ChoiceOdds, said: "Having
seen the highs of the day, it appears that the bargain hunters
have had their fill of cheaply priced stocks.
"With no good news on the horizon there appears little to
suggest that the markets will go any way other than down next
week."
Among oil shares, Total <TOTF.PA>, BP <BP.L> and Royal Dutch
Shell <RDSa.L> all rose between 3.2 percent and 3.6 percent.
Among the day's top percentage gainers, shares in French oil
services Technip <TECF.PA> added 11.3 percent, one day after the
company posted better-than-expected quarterly profits.
Major U.S. stock indexes fell, retreating from a big surge
on Thursday and after a government report showed sales at U.S.
retailers suffered a record drop of 2.8 percent in October.
Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank in London, said:
"Everybody expected a bad number but it's the magnitude of the
deterioration that worries people.
"You'd have to be a brave investor to be a bargain hunter
now. There are bargains out there, but you'd have to be prepared
to hold them for a considerable amount of time."
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <> put on 1.5
percent, Germany's DAX <> rose 1.3 percent and France's
CAC-40 <> put on 0.7 percent.
CONTINENTAL LEAPS
Germany's Continental <CONG.DE> rocketed 27 percent after
ball-bearings maker Schaeffler said it plans to file for
European Commission approval on a previously announced takeover
of just under 50 percent of the tyre and auto parts specialist.
Analysts said the announcement was helping shore up
confidence in the company, but speculation also circulated of a
possible short-squeeze driving shares up. Rumours that Porsche
<PSHG_p.DE> might be considering taking over Conti along with
Schaeffler were denied by the automaker.
Banks staged a mixed performance. On the upside, HSBC
<HSBA.L>, Standard Chartered <STAN.L> and BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>
added between 1.3 percent and 6.4 percent.
But Dexia <DEXI.PA>, one of the day's biggest percentage
fallers, lost 11.5 percent after posting a quarterly loss of
1.544 billion euros. It said it had agreed to sell its FSA
insurance business to Assured Guaranty <AGO.N>.
G20 leaders headed to Washington on Friday for a summit
aimed at seeking solutions to the world's biggest financial
crisis in decades.
(Additional reporting by Tyler Sitte in Frankfurt; Editing by
Sharon Lindores)
