* FTSEurofirst 300 index up 0.1 pct in choppy trade
* Financials, commodity shares; retailers down
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - European shares rose for a
second straight session on Tuesday and were on track to post the
biggest quarterly rise since late 1999, with banks advancing and
commodity shares tracking higher crude oil and metals prices.
At 0839 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was up 0.1 percent at 860.11 points after rising
up to 864.27 points and falling to a low of 858.01. The index
closed 1.8 percent higher in the previous session.
The benchmark, which slumped 45 percent in 2008, has gained
more than 17 percent this quarter.
Banks were broadly higher. Barclays <BARC.L>, Lloyds
<LLOY.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> and UBS <UBSN.VX> were
up 0.7 to 3.2 percent.
"We are still living under a credit crunch and the central
banks have very little choice but to keep interest rates quite
low for some time," said Luc Van Hecka, chief economist at KBC
Securities.
"That may be one of the major fundamental reasons why asset
markets have a tendency to remain underpinned. Today we could
have some volatility tied to the second quarter ending."
Energy stocks followed crude oil prices <CLc1>, which rose 1
percent to trade above $72 a barrel. BP <BP.L>, Tullow Oil
<TLW.L>, Total <TOTF.PA> and StatoilHydro <STL.OL> added between
0.1 and 1 percent.
But BG Group <BG.L> was down 0.5 percent after it said it
will pay Dallas-based Exco Resources Inc <XCO.N> $1.3 billion
for an interest in shale gas resources, as oil and gas companies
continue to snap up assets before an economic recovery drives
prices higher. []
Miners got strength from higher metals prices. BHP Billiton
<BLT.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> and Eurasian
Natural Resources <ENRC.L> rose 0.2 to 1 percent.
In industry news, the head of mining group Xstrata <XTA.L>,
which has made a "merger-of-equals" proposal to rival Anglo
American <AAL.L>, said "nil-premium" mergers may not be possible
without the cooperation of the intended partner. []
Anglo has rebuffed the proposal and investors have been
speculating whether Anglo-Swiss Xstrata would be willing to
offer a premium. Anglo shares were down 1.2 percent, while
Xstrata gained 0.7 percent.
Automakers were broadly lower. BMW <BMWG.DE>, Daimler AG
<DAIGn.DE>, Volkswagen AG <VOWG.DE> and Renault <RENA.PA> fell
0.6 to 1.6 percent.
But Porsche SE <PSHG_p.DE> rose 1.3 percent after Qatar made
an offer to the controlling Porsche and Piech families that
could help reduce the mountain of debt at their wholly owned
automotive holding Porsche.
Retailers lost ground on the last trading day of the
quarter, with Morrison <MRW.L>, Tesco <TSCO.L>, Carrefour
<CARR.PA> and Marks & Spencer <MKS.L> down 0.2 to 2.5 percent.
On the macroeconomic front, German unemployment rose by
31,000 on the month in June, adjusted for seasonal swings.
Across Europe, UK's FTSE 100 index <>, Germany's DAX
index <> and France's CAC 40 <> were down 0.1 to 0.2
percent.
