STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Barclays, HSBC nudge up, Q3 seen strong

Barclays (BARC.L) and HSBC (HSBA.L) shares nudge higher, aided by optimism Britain's top two banks will join rivals in unveiling strong investment banking to power robust trading updates on Tuesday.

Barclays said last week that Q3 profit "was consistent with the run rate" for the first half of the year, pointing to a quarterly profit of about 1.5 billion pounds.

JPMorgan forecasts Barclays Capital will report "clean revenues" of 4.4 billion pounds in Q3, down from 5.5 billion in the previous quarter but "still strong".

HSBC had record investment banking profits in the first-half and should also benefit from firm capital markets activity. The main focus of its Q3 trading update, however, will be trends in its U.S. bad debts, and Credit Suisse analysts predict they will peak in H2. HSBC could see about $3 billion of negative fair value on the value of its own debt in Q3.

Barclays releases its update at 0700 GMT and HSBC will be around 0815 GMT.

Barclays shares rise 2.6 percent to 345.1 pence and HSBC adds 0.5 percent to 686.4p, alongside a 1.5 percent rise by the DJ STOXX European bank index .SX7P. Barclays is up 7 percent this month and HSBC has added 2 percent, while the index has gained 3 percent.

For a story on European investment bank trends click on [ID:nL5400038] and for a banks preview click on [ID:nLL554769].

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