European stocks tick higher early as insurers gain

European stocks rose in choppy trade early on Thursday, driven by gains in insurers, while banks capped the market's advances due to uncertainty about when U.S. Congress might pass a $700 bln rescue plan.
At 0735 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 was up 0.3% at 1,104.8 points.
Insurers were the top gainers on the index. AXA Chief Executive Henri de Castries told Europe 1 radio that the current crisis offered the group opportunities to strengthen its market position. Axa was 2.2% higher.
Swiss Re rose 1.8% after the group said its investment portfolio remained sound despite tough financial markets and reaffirmed its targets as additional writedowns were lower than many had expected.
The banking sector was the top weighted loser as investors fretted about when the $700 bln rescue plan for the U.S. financial sector will be approved by Congress.
HBSC, UBS, Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank were down 1.1-1.9%.
"There is still uncertainty about U.S. Treasury's bail out phase. There needs to be quick action, it is important that investors know what is going to be done about it as the alternatives are too dire," said Bernard McAlinden, market strategist at NCB Stockbrokers.
An emergency meeting has been called for Thursday by U.S. Present George Bush to hammer out details.
The pharmaceutical sector also performed well as investors decided to take a defensive stance.
Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline were trading between 0.6-1.4% higher.