Europe shares rise; banks up as BoE, ECB holds rates

* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.1 pct

* BoE, ECB keep rates on hold

* Banks, food and drug retailers gain

By Harpreet Bhal

LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - European shares edged up on Thursday as banks gained after the Bank of England and the European Central Bank kept rates on hold, with investors awaiting economic data from the U.S. for further direction.

By 1256 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index rose 0.1 percent to 1,036.39 points and hit a fresh six-week high in intra-day trade.

The Bank of England kept interest rates at a record low of 0.5 percent and made no increase to its unprecedented scheme of pumping money into the economy. [ID:nLAC005660]

The European Central Bank also left its main interest rate unchanged, at a record low of 1.0 percent for the tenth month running, with ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet's news conference at 1330 GMT likely to generate some interest among investors [ID:nFAE005615].

Banks rose, with Barclays <BARC.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>, Societe Generale <SOGN.PA>, Banco Santander <SAN.MC> and Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> up 0.8 to 3.6 percent.

"The ECB decision was largely expected and there was little reaction in the equity markets. The markets are taking a pause for breath before tomorrow's all important job figures," said Joshua Raymond, strategist at City Index.

Focus later on Thursday is likely to be on macroeconomic data from the United States, including weekly jobless claims which could generate some interest ahead of the key non-farm payrolls data due on Friday.

Food and drug retailers were led higher by Ahold <AHLN.AS>, which rose 5.2 percent to 21-month highs after the Dutch grocer said it will return 500 million euros to shareholders and keep its medium-term sales and margin growth targets.

Some confidence was also restored after debt-burdened Greece drew strong demand for a crucial bond issue, a day after announcing new austerity measures, but paid a steep risk premium that underscored its plea to Germany and other EU partners for support to help lower its borrowing costs [ID:nLDE6230PC].

Among individual movers, Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk <MAERSKb.CO> fell 4.3 percent after its Chief Executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen said he did not expect container shipping unit Maersk Line to returm to profit in 2010. [ID:nLDE62304C]

GDF Suez <GSZ.PA> shed 2.5 percent as it cut its key profit target after sharply lower gas prices capped the world's second-biggest listed utility's core earnings growth at 1 percent in 2009. [ID:nLDE622103]

Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index <.FTSE>, Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> were down 0.1 to 0.3 percent. (Additional reporting by Joanne Frearson; Editing by David Cowell)