(Refiles to fix typo in headline)
* FTSEurofirst 300 <> up 1.1 pct
* Financials rally as U.S. bank nationalisation fears ease
* Royal Bank of Scotland surges 17 pct on restructuring
By Peter Starck
FRANKFURT, Feb 23 (Reuters) - European shares rallied early
on Monday, led by financials such as Royal Bank of Scotland
<RBS.L> on relief that the U.S. government may not, contrary to
market talk on Friday, have to nationalise some big banks.
At 0925 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was up 1.1 percent at 744.05 points, having
fallen to a six-year low on Friday.
"It's a recovery attempt on reduced fears that U.S. banks
will be nationalised, but I don't think this can be sustained,"
said Hans-Juergen Delp, equity market strategist at Commerzbank.
"We are fighting to find a bottom," Delp said, pointing out
that the gains achieved early in the session paled in comparison
with last week's losses.
Europe's top-300 index fell more than 7.5 percent last week.
Royal Bank of Scotland shot up 17 percent after news it
would set up a non-core division for unwanted assets and a
report it might cut up to 20,000 jobs. RBS declined to comment.
UniCredit rose 9 percent after Chief Executive Alessandro
Profumo said he trusted that the Italian bank had reached its
2008 net profit target of 4 billion euros ($5.03 billion).
Financials gained on a broad front, with Barclays <BARC.L>
up 9.5 percent and Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> up 5 percent while
insurers Allianz <ALVG.DE>, AXA <AXAF.PA> and ING Group <ING.AS>
added around 4 percent each.
The DJ Stoxx insurance sector index <.SXIP> gained 2.5
percent and the bank index <.SX7P> was up 2.2 percent.
Shares in VP Bank <VPB.S>, however, fell 4 percent after
Liechtenstein's third-biggest bank reported a 2008 net loss. The
Vaduz-based bank has also been suffering from pressure on
Liechtenstein's banking secrecy rules.
RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE
Outside financials, shares in Austrian builder Strabag
<STRV.VI> rose 10.5 percent after news that Russian billionaire
Oleg Deripaska has no plan to sell his 25 percent stake in the
company.
But shares in London-listed Mexican miner Fresnillo
<FRES.L>, the world's biggest primary silver producer, fell 5
percent after the company posted a bigger-than-expected fall in
2008 profit and forecast mostly flat 2009 output and lacklustre
demand.
"In addition to quarterly earnings reports, the markets will
be affected by fears about the state of the East European
economies and worries about the health of the financial sector,"
German bank Helaba said in a morning note to clients.
Monday's economic data calendar is thin but on Tuesday
strategists expect new impulses for investors from the German
Ifo business sentiment index and U.S. consumer confidence.
"Investors are noting the initial signs of an improvement in
the leading indicators, but they remain reluctant to add to
equity investments," UniCredit said in a weekly strategy note.
"The uncertainty about whether a convincing solution for the
financial sector can be expected soon, as well as the dangers
resulting from the escalating crisis in Eastern Europe, are
currently highlighting the risks for a sustainable economic
recovery," UniCredit said.
