Europe shares little changed; banks up, pharmas dip

* FTSEurofirst 300 little changed

* Banks rise; Greece fiscal concerns ease

* AstraZeneca down after Recentin trial fails

By Joanne Frearson

LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - European shares were nearly flat in morning trade on Monday, with gains in banks offsetting falls in drugmakers as AstraZeneca <AZN.L> slipped after its Recentin trial did not meet its main goal.

By 0945 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top shares was flat at 1,054.43 points. The index which gained 26 percent in 2009 is only up 0.9 percent so far this year.

Banks featured among the biggest movers on the index. Banco Santander <SAN.MC>, BBVA <BBVA.MC>, UniCredit <CRDI.MI> and Barclays <BARC.L> gained 0.8 to 1.3 percent.

"The market is a little more positive, buoyed by what happened in the United States on Friday with the non-farm payroll figures," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management.

"There is also a view, that while Europe has not resolved its problems, the worst of what has happened to Greece has passed for the moment ... but, that is not to say it can not come back."

Greece central bank governor George Provopoulos said in a German newspaper interview released on Monday that Greece will not need foreign help to deal with its debt problems. [ID:nSGE62703J]

Insurers were in demand, with Prudential <PRU.L> up 1.4 percent.

The insurer this week is set to launch a charm offensive in an attempt to calm the nerves of its leading investors about its $35.5 billion agreed bid to buy life insurer AIA in Asia and pay for it with a 21 billion dollar rights issue, The Times said.

COMMODS GAIN

Miners were higher as metal prices rose. Copper <MCU3=LX> was up 1 percent after Friday's better-than-expected jobs data boosted hopes of recovery in the United States.

BHP Billiton <BLT.L> added 1.1 percent as the miner's move to shorter-term coal prices for steel mills is likely to be followed for iron ore contracts that could help the company earn billions of dollars more in annual revenues. [ID:nSGE62602G]

Anglo American <AAL.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> gained 0.2 to 1.1 percent.

Energy stocks were in demand as oil <CLc1> rallied to an eight-week peak above $82 a barrel boosted by a weaker dollar. BG Group <BG.L>, Cairn Energy <CNE.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> and Total <TOTF.PA> were 0.2 to 0.6 percent higher.

Drugmakers were the major losers. AstraZeneca <AZN.L> fell 1.2 percent after it said its cancer drug Recentin failed in a head-to-head late stage trial with Roche's <ROG.VX> Avastin on colorectal cancer patients.

Roche was down 0.2 percent, while GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> and Shire <SHP.L> lost 1.1 and 0.5 percent respectively.

Cash machine specialist Wincor Nixdorf <WING.DE> fell 4 percent after the company's CFO told German daily Boersen-Zeitung that investors have to prepare for a double-digit decline in earnings for the ongoing fiscal year.

Salzgitter <SZGG.DE> slipped 1.3 percent after JP Morgan downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "overweight" to reflect a gloomy outlook for the steelmaker's tubes business.

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <.FTSE>, Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> and France's CAC 40 <.FCHI> were little changed. (Reporting by Joanne Frearson; Editing by Hans Peters)