Banks, pharmas boost Europe shares in choppy day

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - European shares rose in Thursday's choppy trade as banks gained after a surprise shift in euro zone rate expectations and pharmaceuticals benefited from a move into perceived safe-haven assets.

The European Central Bank delivered a widely expected quarter-point rate rise to euro zone rates.

But markets were taken by surprise when ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said in remarks after the decision he had "no bias" towards monetary policy, which investors interpreted as a signal no more increases were forthcoming for now, hitting the euro <EUR=> and pushing up government bond prices.

This helped bank stocks, which usually benefit from an environment of steady or falling rates, pushing up shares in BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) by more than 4 percent.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 of top European shares closed up 0.86 percent at an unofficial 1,177.98 points. The index swung between losses of 1.6 percent and a gain of 1.2 percent, making this its most volatile day since late March.

"The vast majority of analysts were anticipating the European Central Bank would have raised rates today," said Henk Potts, a strategist at Barclays Stockbrokers.

"They also anticipated a very hawkish statement to come through from that and it was certainly nowhere near as strong as many had expected," he said.

Among pharmas, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) both rose about 3 percent.

(Reporting by Amanda Cooper)