* Oils top-weighted gainers as crude stays above $135
* InBev gains on deal to buy Anheuser-Busch
* Investors eye U.S. retail sales at 1230 GMT
By Patrizia Kokot
LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - European stocks rose on Thursday
to snap a six-day losing streak, driven by bank and oil shares
and a jump in Belgian brewer InBev <INTB.BR> shares as investors
welcomed its bid for U.S. rival Anheuser-Busch <BUD.N>.
By 0912 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index added 0.3
percent to 1,253.47 points.
Heavyweight oil stocks BP <BP.L>, Shell <RDSa.L> and Total
<TOTF.PA> rose 0.8-1.1 percent as oil held above the
$135-a-barrel mark.
Banks, the sector worst hit by a credit crisis over the past
year, were broadly higher, with Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>
up 3 percent after recent falls and HSBC <HSBA.L> up 1 percent.
Standard Chartered <STAN.L> gained after Goldman Sachs
upgraded the company's Hong Kong-listed shares <2888.HK>.
Spain's Banco Popular <POP.MC> rallied 5 percent after
newspaper Negocio said a group of Mexican businessmen was
considering a bid. The bank said it was unaware of an offer.
And HBOS <HBOS.L> rose 3.5 percent having fallen further
below the level at which it plans to sell its rights issue.
Concerns over inflation have taken centrestage over the past
few weeks on the back of statements from U.S. and European
central banks, but analysts said worries may have been overdone.
"Inflation fears appear to be exaggerated, as with the
dollar strengthening, oil should come down," said Thierry
Lacraz, strategist at Swiss bank Pictet in Geneva.
Investor focus shifts to U.S. retail sales due at 1230 GMT.
"One reason why we're rebounding today is that investors
expect to see the first effects of the U.S. government plan to
support consumption," said Lacraz.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <> was up 0.7
percent, Germany's DAX <> up 0.4 percent ad France's CAC
<> up 0.3 percent.
BUD
InBev rose 3.4 percent after it offered $46.3 billion to buy
Anheuser-Busch. Other brewers also moved on the deal, with
SABMiller <SAB.L> down 3 percent and Heineken <HEIN.AS> up 1.4
percent.
"Acquirers aren't being punished for pursuing sensible
acquisitions, despite that being surprising given the market
conditions," one trader said.
Pictet's Lacraz said that the deal showed that Europe's
companies were still in good health despite a slump in the
region's stocks.
"Companies themselves are not in bad shape, the problems are
due to dilution in banks and inflation from the oil price. I'm
also positively surprised that analysts are not cutting earnings
forecasts for companies for 2008-2009."
Telenor <TEL.OL> edged up 0.9 percent as a merger between
the Nordic telecom operator and peer TeliaSonera <TLSN.ST>
appeared less probable following a report in Swedish daily
Dagens Nyheter, which said such a deal would require sizeable
asset sales.
On the downside, retailers weighed after both Carphone
Warehouse <CPW.L> and Home Retail Group <HOME.L> spooked
investors with cautious outlooks.
Carphone fell nearly 19 percent after Europe's biggest
independent mobile phone retailer said it had seen falling
broadband demand due to a slowdown in the housing market and was
cautious about the year ahead.
Chemicals advanced, with the DJ Stoxx European Chemicals
<.SX4P> up 0.88 percent, led higher by BASF <BASF.DE> which rose
1.9 percent after JP Morgan and Societe Generale issued bullish
broker notes.
Miners were also broadly stronger, with Lonmin <LMI.L> up 1
percent and Vedanta <VED.L> rising 3.3 percent, the latter also
boosted by an upgrade to "buy" from "neutral" at Goldman Sachs.
BHP Billiton <BHP.L> rose 1.8 percent.
(Additional reporting by Blaise Robinson and Sitaraman Shankar)
