European shares rose on Friday, recovering some of the ground lost this week, with Spanish banks gaining on reports of nationalisation of weaker players in the sector and energy companies rising on stronger crude prices, according to Reuters. Spanish government bond yields fell on Friday, squeezing the spread over German Bunds to its tightest since mid-November after reports Spain plans a partial takeover of its weakest savings banks. Heavyweight Spanish banks Banco Santander and BBVA rose 4 and 3.1 percent respectively. "There's a massive rebalancing going on, after the trigger of the (successful) Portuguese bond auction last week. People are buying the peripheral markets and selling the core," said Andy Lynch, fund manager at Schroders in London. "What underperformed last year is now being bought. Anything that helps to stabilise the banking sector, especially in Spain, has to be good news. In a dysfunctional banking sector this is a good step, but there's still a long way to travel." At 1204 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.9 percent at 1,149.71 points after falling 2.4 percent over the previous two sessions. The index is on course to fall 0.6 percent over the week, partly on worries about monetary tightening in China. Royal Bank of Scotland gained 5.4 percent on hopes the part-nationalised bank may leave a government asset protection scheme, set up to insure its riskiest assets. The STOXX Europe 600 banking index rose 1.4 percent. Among other gainers was Dexia, up 6.4 percent, building on a 5 percent gain in the previous session, when the Franco-Belgian banking and insurance group said it was finalising a funding deal with French mail operator and financial services provider La Poste. Energy shares featured among the top gainers, tracking a rebound in crude oil prices after steep losses in the previous two sessions. The STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index rose 0.9 percent, with Total, ENI and BP up between 1.2 and 1.6 percent. Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC40 rose between 0.8 and 1.3 percent. Spain's benchmark rose 2 percent.
