* FTSEurofirst 300 index up 0.3 percent
* Banks gain, miners up
* Pernod Ricard falls, predicts tough year
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - European shares were higher by midday on Thursday after three straight sessions of losses, with banks and miners among top gainers ahead of the European Central Bank's interest rate decision.
By 1024 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.3 percent at 953.39 points. The index is up around 47 percent since reaching a lifetime low in early March and is about 14 percent higher for the year.
"Wait and see what happens with the ECB. I think the next strategy regarding monetary and fiscal policy will probably be lined out ... though it is still too soon for the economy to cope with higher interest rates," said Heino Ruland, strategist at Ruland Research.
"All we have seen is a couple of very good soft indicators, but we have not seen any real improvement of hard facts. Order intakes in the euro zone are trending down and we have not had that much improvement in private consumption either," he said.
The European Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates at 1.0 percent on Thursday, and President Jean-Claude Trichet is likely to preach caution on the growing hype of a full-blown euro zone economic recovery. Banks added the most points to the index. Deutsche Bank gained nearly 2 percent following market talk it might increase its holding in retail bank Deutsche Postbank. Deutsche Bank denied the rumour.
Banco Santander, UBS and Fortis were up 1.6 to 6 percent.
MINERS GAIN
Miners were higher as metal prices rose, with copper up 1 percent, aluminium 0.5 percent higher, and nickel gaining 2.7 percent.
Anglo American, Fresnillo, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, Rio Tinto and Xstrata were up 1.8-7.2 percent.
Oil groups were among the worst performers on the index. BP fell 1.1 percent following a gain of 4.3 percent on Wednesday when it announced a major oil find in the Gulf of Mexico.
Looking at individual stocks, Pernod Ricard lost 3.8 percent after the group predicted a tough year as the drinks market stagnates.
Shares in BASF were down 3.3 percent after Nomura downgraded its stance on the company to 'reduce' from 'neutral'.
Also giving support to the market was news the euro zone services economy jumped back almost to recovery in August, with Germany powering back to growth and France a fraction away, a PMI survey showed. "This really supports the case that this is a broad economic recovery, still dependent on the stimulus of monetary and fiscal policy, but it looks like we are on safer ground with regards to recovery in the euro area," said Juergen Michels at Citi.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was flat, Germany's DAX was up 0.2 percent and France's CAC 40 was flat. (Reporting by Joanne Frearson; Editing by Dan Lalor)