BUZZ-easyJet looking at Monarch Airlines reports say, oil price moves shares

** easyJet is considering a bid for Monarch Airlines, the British airline owned by investment firm Greybull Capital (Other OTC: CGHC - news) , according to a report in the Sunday Times

** Monarch's owner said on Thursday that it had hired an investment bank to consider both "inbound and outbound" options for the airline, prompting a number of newspaper reports

** The Sunday Telegraph reports that Monarch itself is eyeing bid targets including Air Berlin (LSE: 0GPE.L - news) , TuiFly and Thomas Cook (Xetra: A0MR3W - news) Airlines

** Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in easyJet climb 2 pct, slightly ahead of a 0.9 percent rise across European travel stocks, which analysts attribute to a fall in the oil price on Monday

** Brent futures are trading at $41.15 per barrel, down 4.6 percent from their last settlement

** Other London-listed travel stocks TUI Group and British Airways-owner IAG also rise 2 pct

** Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo says an easyJet bid for Monarch is possible but not overly convincing: "It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's not a ludicrous idea by any means but it's not a compelling deal that offers something unique to easyJet which they have to go for"

** easyJet declines to comment on the Sunday Times story

** Monarch has over 30 aircraft, making it much smaller than easyJet which has over 240 aircraft

(RM (LSE: RM.L - news) : sarah.young.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)