* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.2 pct, rises for fourth straight day
* Auto stocks up as Ghosn says financial crisis "behind us"
* Energy shares rise as oil prices around $71 a barrel
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By Blaise Robinson
PARIS, Sept 9 (Reuters) - European stocks were up 0.2 percent at midday on Wednesday, gaining ground for a fourth consecutive session, with shares of automakers rallying after Renault's CEO said the financial crisis was over.
Energy shares advanced as oil prices hovered above $71 a barrel after surging more than $3 on Tuesday, with OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna expected to keep official output unchanged.
At 1055 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.2 percent at 979.40 points, just a few points shy of an 11-month high of 986.59 reached in late August.
The index, which has surged 52 percent since reaching a floor in early March, is still down 16 percent from its level just before the collapse of Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers a year ago accelerated the global credit crisis.
"There is clearly a resistance zone on the upside for the European indices. if there is a break out, it will be a strong positive signal," said Romain Roclore, technical analyst at Aurel BGC.
"But for now, markets are range bound, and it's 'wait and see', from a technical point of view."
Shares of pharmaceutical and food companies, seen as defensive plays, were on the downside, with Nestle down 1.1 percent, GlaxoSmithKline down 1.1 percent and Sanofi-Aventis down 1.6 percent.
The VDAX-NEW volatility index, a measure of investor risk appetite, was down 0.8 percent, reaching its lowest level since August 28.
The lower the volatility index, which is based on sell and buy options on Frankfurt's top-30 stocks, the higher is investors' appetite for risky assets, such as cyclical stocks.
Oil shares were on the rise, with BP up 0.9 percent, and Total up 0.6 percent.
Repsol rose 1.4 percent and BG Group added 2.9 percent, after an oil and gas find at the Guara oil field off the coast of Brazil. Both companies have significant stakes in the field. BG says the site has recoverable reserves of 1.1-2.0 billion barrels of light oil and gas.
Auto stocks climbed after Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn told daily Le Figaro "the financial crisis is clearly behind us".
Ghosn, also chief executive of Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor, told the newspaper he expected to see a pick-up in activity in the United States and emerging markets in the first quarter of 2010, with an improvement in Europe coming towards the end of 2010 or the start of 2011, adding the recovery would be gradual and take several years.
"This is quite a change in tone from Ghosn, who has been very cautious recently," one trader said.
Renault rose 6.6 percent and Peugeot added 4.7 percent, while BMW, also boosted by a rating upgrade to 'overweight' from 'underweight' from Morgan Stanley and an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' from RBS, soared 5.9 percent.
Around Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index was up 0.4 percent, Germany's DAX index up 0.4 percent, and France's CAC 40 up 0.2 percent.
So far this year, the FTSEurofirst 300 has gained 18 percent, the FTSE 100 is up 12 percent, while both the DAX and the CAC are up 14 percent. (Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Dan Lalor)