European shares up; financials gain on earnings

* FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index up 1.1 percent

* Banks, insurers rise on earnings

* Central banks due to make announcements

By Brian Gorman

LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - European shares rose in early trade on Thursday, with financials leading after more positive results in the sector, and ahead of rate decisions from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank. At 0833 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares was up 1.1 percent at 944.71 points.

Financials led the market higher, as earnings in the second quarter continue to encourage investors.

Belgian banking and insurance group KBC surged 18.6 percent after returning to net profit in the second quarter after three consecutive losses. [ID:nL5441874]

Commerzbank rose 3.2 percent after second-quarter earnings beat analyst expectations thanks to lower writedowns for problem assets and a profitable quarter in retail banking. [ID:L6511927]

Insurers Aviva and Zurich Financial rose 5.8 and 2.8 percent respectively after reporting results. [ID:nL612559] [ID:nL5617004]

BNP Paribas , Banco Santander and HSBC were up between 1.6 and 2.2 percent.

The DJ STOXX European Banking Index <.SX7P> is up about 149 percent from its March low, as the sector recovers from a crisis that has seen massive writedowns on bad debts, and governments having to rescue some banks. Insurers Allianz , AXA , Prudential , Swiss Re and Zurich Financial rose between 2 and 2.5 percent.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index, near its highest in nine months, is up more than 46 percent from its lifetime low of March 9, as investors have become more confident on the prospects of recovery, and with earnings season having been mostly positive. "The 200-day moving averages are turning up, a signal that it's a bull market," said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB Stockbrokers, in Dublin.

"But the market is trading above the averages for now and, in the near term, there is vulnerability to some kind of correction, as it looks stretched."

A weaker dollar has helped crude prices to rise to more than $72 a barrel, boosting energy shares. ENI , Royal Dutch Shell and Repsol were up between 0.5 and 0.8 percent.

Miners on the rise included BHP Billiton , Lonmin , Rio Tinto and Xstrata , up between 1.1 and 4.4 percent, though copper prices slipped back from 10-month highs. [.CLc1]

UNILEVER RISES

Unilever rose 4.9 percent after the consumer goods giant beat consensus forecasts with a 4.1 percent rise in second-quarter underlying sales and said it was encouraged by a 2 percent volume rise with all regions seeing growth. [ID:nL4534023]

"While we anticipated that risk to consensus volumes was to the upside, we did not expect it to this magnitude -- very impressive," Citi analysts said. "While bears will likely point to lower than anticipated pricing, LFL (like-for-like) growth is above market expectation, as is the quality of it."

Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <.FTSE>, Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> and France's CAC-40 <.FCHI> were up between 0.8 and 1 percent.

Both the ECB and BoE are expected to keep rates on hold, at 1 and 0.5 percent respectively, but the latter may announce an expansion of quantitative easing.

Later in the session, investors' attention will switch to weekly jobless data in the United States. (Editing by Mike Nesbit)