G20 hopes push up European shares

As a result of these concerns,Societe Generale has lost 59.7 percent since late July,Credit Agricole 54.7 percent and BNP Paribas 52.6 percent,while the STOXX Europe 600 Banks index has fallen 33.73 percent.

BNP Paribas,Credit Agricole and Societe Generale were amongst the top risers on the French CAC up 0.9 to 1.5 percent.

The G20 said necessary steps would be taken to help calm the global financial system. However,little detail was given on how the rescue fund might be changed and what kind of action the group would implement to help the markets.

It is only a short-term relief 8230; we do not know that much about how the G20 will respond to the challenge,said Veronika Pechlaner,a fund manager on the Ashburton European equity fund.

Fundamentally nothing has changed and it is too early to get aggressive at this stage. We are underweight financials and have become in more so in the last month.

Greek newspapers reported that the country8217;s finance minister sees three scenarios in resolving the debt crisis including an orderly default with a 50 percent haircut for bondholders.

Greek banking stocks dropped 4.8 percent on the default scenario news as well as being hit by a Moody8217;s Investors Service downgrade of eight Greek banks by two notches.

By 0823 GMT,the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.8 percent at 882.07 points,after dropping 4.7 percent to a 26-month low on Thursday on worries about global growth.

The index is on track to end the week down 6.1 percent,its worst performance since August.

The Euro STOXX 50 volatility index ,Europe8217;s main fear guage,was only down 1.4 percent and is on track to end the week 9.6 percent higher 8211; the higher the volatility index,the lower investor appetite for risk.

Implied volatility,which is only calculated after the market close,rose sharply on most major European indexes after Thursday8217;s selloff,with that for Germany8217;s DAX up 9.3 percent,for Britain8217;s FTSE 100 up 20 percent and for the French CAC-40 up 10 percent.

Traders put the gains down to bargain hunting after the sharp falls.

It is a relief rally and investors are just picking up some stocks on the cheap,Mark Priest,senior trader at ETX Capital,said. I do not see how everything has changed overnight.

Kick-starting the economy is easier said than done and it will take a lot more than what has been put on the table.

Adidas was also amongst the best performers,up 2.9 percent and topped the German DAX ,boosted by US peer8217;s Nike first-quarter profits which topped Wall Street estimates.