* FTSEurofirst 300 index up 0.1 percent
* Miners recover from earlier falls
* Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish slip
* For up-to-the minute market news, click on []
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - European shares edged higher on
Monday as strong euro zone export growth overshadowed worries
over the euro zone periphery's ability to manage its debt, with
miners recovering from earlier losses.
Stocks edged higher after the euro zone had a bigger than
expected trade surplus in September, data showed, as export
growth outpaced the rise in imports year-on-year.
[]
Mining stocks recovered from earlier losses, with the STOXX
Europe 600 Basic Resources <.SXPP> index 0.3 percent higher.
BHP Billiton <BLT.L> was up from early falls and gained 0.2
percent. Earlier it had slipped after it said it had scrapped
its $39 billion bid for Canada's Potash Corp <POT.N> and
signalled it would return cash with a share buyback.
Lonmin <LMI.L> rose 1.6 percent after full-year profits beat
forecasts and it restarted its dividend. []
By 1024 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <>
index of top shares was up 0.1 percent at 1,104.39 points.
Sentiment on the market had earlier been hurt as worries
about the euro zone peripheral countries persisted.
"The main worry for the market is whether the sovereign debt
crisis will flare out of control and whether it will be
contained," Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB
Stockbrokers in Dublin, said.
The Irish Independent reported on Monday, quoting an unnamed
source that Ireland is considering asking for money for its
banks from the European Union's emergency fund in a bid to fend
off the threat of a bailout for the state. []
Bank of Ireland <BKIR.I> and Allied Irish Banks <ALBK.I>
fell 4.4 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, Ireland on Sunday did not rule out turning to
Europe for help, but said no application had been made for
assistance yet. []
Elsewhere in the peripheries, Portugal's foreign minister
said a failure to adopt a broad coalition government to deal
with the financial crisis could push the country out of the euro
currency. []
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Technicals showed there was some level of support for the
Euro STOXX 50 <>, the euro zone's blue-chip index.
The index fell 0.1 percent to 2,818.85 points, after briefly
dipping below the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement of the
index's fall from an April high to a May low at 2,805.95 points
after testing it in the previous session.
"After going through it on Friday and then bouncing back up,
I think the 61.8 Fibonacci retracement level will act as a level
of support for the index," Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX
Capital, said.
Valuations for the STOXX Europe 600 <> one-year
forward price-to-earnings stood at 10.7 against a 10-year
average of 13.4, Thomson Reuters Datastream showed.
On the upside, merger and acquisition talk helped gains in
Invensys <ISYS.L> which jumped 7 percent after traders cited a
Daily Telegraph report that China Southern Rail may bid for the
British engineering group. Invensys declined to comment.
MAN <MANG.DE> rose 5.1 percent on news the German truck
maker and Sweden's Scania <SCVb.ST> were in talks over a
possible combination of the two companies. []
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <> index was down 0.1
percent, Germany's DAX <> was up 0.1 and France's CAC 40
<> was 0.1 percent lower.
The Thomson Reuters Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index
<.TRXFLDPIPU> was down 0.2 percent.
(Reporting by Joanne Frearson; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
