* FTSEurofirst 300 index up 0.03 percent
* Banks reverse earlier gains on peripheral debt woes
* Markets seek detail on Ireland, EU/IMF deal
* ICAP falls on broker downgrade
* For up-to-the minute market news, click on []
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - European shares were higher on
Monday after Ireland agreed to a bailout by the European Union
and International Monetary Fund, although early gains were pared
as the market awaits further detail.
By 1105 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <>
index of top shares was 0.03 percent higher at 1,102.59 points,
after initially being as high as 1,110.42 earlier.
"I think it is just a relief rally and will be short lived
as we still need to see the terms of the deal," Heino Ruland,
strategist at Ruland Research in Frankfurt.
On Sunday, Ireland agreed to a three-year bailout package by
the European Union and the IMF to tackle its banking and budget
crisis. The deal is expected to total 80 billion to 90 billion
euros.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
TAKE A LOOK-Ireland requests bailout []
TAKE A LOOK- Europe's debt problems []
Q+A-How will Ireland's bailout work? []
Euro zone debt struggle graphic http://r.reuters.com/hyb65p
Multimedia on Euro Zone Crisis http://r.reuters.com/hus75h
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
The banking sector, which initially featured among the best
performers turned lower as investors still remained concerned
about debt problems in the euro zone periphery.
"It remains unclear at this stage exactly what is planned
for the banks; the terms 'contingency fund' and 'standby fund'
to demonstrate the banks have 'firepower' implies no early
incremental recap but that capital would be available if
required," Emer Lang, analyst at Davy Research, said.
After early gains, Ireland's <.ISEQ> traded down around 0.2
percent, led by financials including Bank of Ireland <BKIR.I>,
which erased the gains made in the previous session and was down
11.6 percent, and Allied Irish Banks <ALBK.I>, down 4.4 percent.
Elsewhere in the euro zone periphery, Italy's benchmark FTSE
MIB <.FTMIB> and Spain's IBEX 35 <> slipped 0.3 percent and
0.4 percent, respectively, while Portugal's PSI 20 <> was
up 0.2 percent and Greece's ATG <> was down 1.1 percent.
The Greek stock market <> rallied 14 percent in the
couple days preceding its EU/IMF bailout deal in early May, but
dropped nearly 15 percent in the sessions after the announcement
following protests against its austerity budget.
Ireland's budget is due to be announced on Wednesday.
Greek banks also fell early on, with Piraeus Bank <BOPr.AT>
and National Bank of Greece <NBGr.AT> down 1.6 percent and 1.7
percent, respectively. The Greek index is now down around 23
percent since its bailout deal with the EU/IMF.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <> index was 0.5 percent
higher, Germany's DAX <> was 0.5 percent higher and
France's CAC 40 <> was up 0.4 percent.
ICAP
Elsewhere, among individual names, ICAP <IAP.L> slipped 0.9
percent after Execution Noble downgraded the British brokerage
to "hold" from "buy".
On the upside, oil stocks featured among the top performers,
tracking crude <CLc1> prices higher after the dollar weakened on
the Irish bailout news. BP <BP.L>, Total <TOTF.PA> and Petrofac
<PFC.L> all gained between 0.8 percent and 1.2 percent.
Retail stocks were also in demand, buoyed by Tesco <TSCO.L>,
up 0.3 percent, after the world's No.3 stores group reported
strong third-quarter trading in most of its Asia markets.
(Additional reporting by Blaise Robinson in Paris, Lorraine
Turner in Dublin)
