Euro zone shares rebound after Spanish, Italian debt sales

* Euro STOXX 50 (Zurich: ^STOXX50E - news) up 0.5 pct, FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.2 pct

* Euro zone banks, Italian and Spanish stocks lead rebound

* Volatility rises as investors hedge against U.S. default

jitters

By Francesco Canepa

LONDON, Oct (KOSDAQ: 039200.KQ - news) 9 (Reuters) - Euro zone shares rebounded on

Wednesday, outpacing their British and Swiss counterparts as

successful debt sales in Rome and Madrid boosted banks and

stocks on the region's periphery.

Spanish and Italian stocks rallied after the countries'

sovereign bonds sold well, adding to signs of improved sentiment

towards the euro zone's struggling southern economies.

Italy's FTSE MIB (Milan: FTSEMIB.MI - news) index and Spain's Ibex

rose 1 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, outperforming

Switzerland's SMI (KOSDAQ: 100660.KQ - news) and Britain's FTSE 100 (FTSE: ^FTSE - news) indexes, down

0.8 percent and 0.4 percent.

Euro zone banks, which are exposed to the region's

sovereign debt through their bond holdings and rely on economic

growth for their core business, rose 1.6 percent, led by Italy's

Banco Popolare (Milan: BP.MI - news) and Spain's Caixabank.

Italian and Spanish shares have outpaced their European

peers since July as better economic data lured investors to

stocks trading at lower valuation multiples, including banks,

telecoms and utility stocks in the periphery.

The recent rally, however, has made those valuations start

to look full, especially in Spain.

"The outperformance of value stocks is a long-term theme but

there is scope for some short-term profit taking into the end of

the year," Claudia Panseri, global equity strategist at Societe

Generale Private Banking.

"The fact that the euro zone has climbed out of recession is

in the prices by now and we're waiting to see an expansion in

earnings."

Panseri has a 3,000 point year-end target for the euro zone

Euro STOXX 50 index, which was up 0.5 percent at

2,918.02 points by 1444 GMT.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down

0.2 percent at 1,228.34 points, a fresh one-month low, weighed

down by defensive stocks such as Swiss pharma group Roche

and food group Nestle (VTX: NESN.VX - news) .

Lack of progress in resolving the U.S. fiscal deadlock kept

sentiment subdued and boosted the Euro STOXX volatility index

, which gauges the cost of insuring against future market

swings using options, to a one-month high.

President Barack Obama said he would only negotiate with

Republicans once they agreed to re-open a government in its

second week of shutdown, and raise the debt ceiling with no

conditions.

In this context, investors welcomed news that Janet Yellen

will take over as Federal Reserve chairman from next year, which

bolstered expectations the U.S. central bank will tread

carefully in unwinding equity-friendly stimulus.

"It's the Yellen effect that has brought financial market

stabilisation," said Oliver Roth, head trader at Close Brothers (LSE: CBG.L - news)

Seydler.