STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Shares stay higher; Wall St rises

European shares stay higher as stocks on Wall Street gain in early trade following comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials on continued low interest rates.

The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 is up 0.7 percent at 1,017.17 points, while U.S. benchmark indexes .DJI .SPX .IXIC are trading 0.5 to 0.7 percent higher.

In Europe, banks are among the top gainers, with Standard Chartered (STAN.L), HSBC (HSBA.L), Barclays (BARC.L), Lloyds (LLOY.L), BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) and Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) rising 0.5 to 6.5 percent.

Reuters Messaging rm://atul.prakash.reuters.com@reuters.net