STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Sainsbury up; Qatar interest resurface

Shares in Sainsbury (SBRY.L) rise 0.7 percent, slightly outpeforming its peers, with traders citing expectation that the retailer would benefit from plans by Qatar Holding to sell 1.8 billion euros worth of preference shares in Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE).

Qatar owns 26 percent of Sainsbury and the retailer's shares jumped by a fifth in late October on talk the sovereign wealth fund was planning a renewed offer for it.

Sainsbury's shares also rose after Qatar sold a 1.4 billion pound stake in Barclays (BARC.L) in October, on the view that the fund will use a big profit to make a move on the retailer.

"Whenever the Qataris sell anything it gets linked to a Sainsbury bid," a trader says.

Sainsbury, which is set to release its first-half results on Wednesday, declines to comment to comment.

Peers Tesco (TSCO.L) and WM Morrison (MRW.L) rise 0.5 and 0.6 percent respectively.

Reuters Messaging rm://harpreet.bhal.reuters.com@reuters.net

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