Oils, healthcare help nudge up European stocks

LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) European stocks crept higher on Friday, boosted by gains in oil producers and healthcare shares, as investors sought to shrug off worries that the next U.S. interest rate rise will be bigger than originally expected.

Among major movers, Associated British Ports rallied 4 percent after a Goldman Sachs-led consortium beat Australia's Macquarie Bank in an auction for the company, raising its cash offer to 2.8 billion pounds.

''I hate to say it, but I think we've had the worst of the correction. It was quite a fierce and furious sell-off,'' said Jeremy Le Sueur, fund manager at Church House Investments.

''Fund managers' cash weightings are high. In the short run the rally will continue, but it's going to be a long summer.'' By 0923 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst index of 300 leading shares was up 0.3 percent at 1,285.1 points, after finishing Thursday's session at its highest close in two weeks.

The index has rebounded from a seven-month intraday low of 1,230.1 last week but is still about 9 percent down from a near five-year high in May, after which markets slumped on worries of global growth and rising interest rates.

Oil stocks gained as NYMEX crude futures edged towards a barrel, with BP up 1.9 percent and Total gaining 1.7 percent.

Among second tier oil companies, Neste gained 2.3 percent and Statoil added 1.9 percent.

Healthcare stocks rose, boosted by a 4.2 percent rally in Fresenius after the German company said its Phase IIa clinical trials of Removab antibody in treating ovarian cancer had produced encouraging results.

Fresenius Medical also gained 3 percent after Deutsche Bank restarted coverage of the company with a ''buy'' recommendation.

MINERS WEIGH Lacklustre mining stocks helped cap the market's gains, with BHP Billiton and Xstrata both down 0.9 percent despite copper prices edging higher.

Elsewhere, on a relatively quiet day for corporate news, shares in German crane maker Demag Cranes started trading at 22.30 euros, 1.4 percent above its cut issue price in one of Germany's biggest market debuts this year.

But Vivacon said it has indefinitely postponed the London market debut of its subsidiary Vivacon German Properties Plc, citing tough markets. Vivacon shares were down 9 percent.

And Macquarie said it was buying British bus and train operator Stagecoach Group Plc's London bus operations for 263.6 million pounds, sending Stagecoach shares up 4.2 percent.

U.S. DATA Rumours that Federal Reserve officials had met with bond market participants on Wednesday fanned speculation that the central bank may raise rates by 50 basis points although most traders were sceptical.

''U.S. durable goods orders are the only vaguely significant economic item on the calendar today so expect this reading to come under close scrutiny,'' said Wayne Roworth, trader at CMC Markets.

U.S. durable goods for May are due for release at 1230 GMT, with economists expecting a 0.5 percent rise as markets continue to expect rises in borrowing costs even as growth shows signs of slowing.

REUTERS PV HS1538