* FTSEurofirst 300 rises 0.4 percent, up 0.1 percent on the week
* U.S. monthly non-farm payrolls data eyed
* Carrefour hit by talk of board dissension on spinoff plans
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By Blaise Robinson
PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) - European stocks were up around midday on Friday, gaining ground for the second day in a row as investors' attention turned to key U.S. monthly jobs data, expected to show a big jump in U.S. employment for February.
Trouble in the Middle East and North Africa, which sparked a sharp pullback in equities early last week, moved to the back burner despite rising oil prices on Friday, boosted by worries over violence in Libya and protests in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing Eastern Province.
At 1235 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.4 percent at 1,160.93 points, on track to record a weekly gain of 0.1 percent following a roller coaster week.
The VDAX-NEW volatility index, one of Europe's main barometers of investor anxiety, was down 5.3 percent on Friday, adding to its retreat from 3-month highs hit last week and signalling a recovery in investors' appetite for risky assets such as stocks.
"The market seems to be very confident, and doesn't really price in the risk of lasting high energy prices," said Frank Dixmier, CIO of Allianz GI Investments Europe, which recently trimmed its equity exposure although the asset manager remains "slightly overweight" on stocks.
"In this optimistic scenario, in which the turmoil won't spread to Saudi Arabia or Iran, stocks and credit are the two best asset classes. But if there is contagion and an oil shock, there will be a hit on global growth, which in turn will revive the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and drag down stocks again," he said.
"The lack of visibility on this crisis forces us to be more cautious."
Investors awaited U.S. nonfarm payrolls data, due at 1330 GMT, expected to show that employment has increased by 185,000 last month, which would be the biggest gain in nearly a year and a strong signal that the world's biggest economy is back on track.
A number of equity traders said the market has already priced in a strong jobs figure after Wednesday's better-than-expected data from the ADP Employer Services report, and that the risk was on the downside for stocks in case of a disappointing figure, while the unrest in Middle East and North Africa showed no sign of abating.
Around Europe, UK's FTSE 100 index was up 0.6 percent, Germany's DAX index up 0.7 percent, and France's CAC 40 up 0.3 percent.
Carrefour, the world's second biggest retailer, dropped 4.3 percent on rising concern over its spin-off plans after a board member resigned.
"There seem to be big dissension within the board on the strategy," a Paris-based trader said.
The euro zone's blue chip Euro STOXX 50 index was up 0.6 percent at 2,987.44 points.
Alexandre Le Drogoff, technical analyst at Aurel BGC, said the index has lost steam in its recovery from last week's pullback, but isn't giving strong signals of weakness either.
"There is a strong ambiguity between the fact that the DAX is showing signs of a potential acceleration on the downside while the Euro STOXX 50 and the CAC 40 are finding support. In this case it's better to wait for some sort of convergence between these markets before identifying a scenario," he said. (Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Hans Peters)