* FTSEurofirst 300 index up 0.1 percent
* Miners recover from earlier falls
* Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish slip
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By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - European shares edged higher on Monday as strong euro zone export growth overshadowed worries over the euro zone periphery's ability to manage its debt, with miners recovering from earlier losses.
Stocks edged higher after the euro zone had a bigger than expected trade surplus in September, data showed, as export growth outpaced the rise in imports year-on-year.
Mining stocks recovered from earlier losses, with the STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources index 0.3 percent higher.
BHP Billiton was up from early falls and gained 0.2 percent. Earlier it had slipped after it said it had scrapped its $39 billion bid for Canada's Potash Corp and signalled it would return cash with a share buyback.
Lonmin rose 1.6 percent after full-year profits beat forecasts and it restarted its dividend.
By 1024 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.1 percent at 1,104.39 points.
Sentiment on the market had earlier been hurt as worries about the euro zone peripheral countries persisted.
"The main worry for the market is whether the sovereign debt crisis will flare out of control and whether it will be contained," Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin, said.
The Irish Independent reported on Monday, quoting an unnamed source that Ireland is considering asking for money for its banks from the European Union's emergency fund in a bid to fend off the threat of a bailout for the state.
Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks fell 4.4 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, Ireland on Sunday did not rule out turning to Europe for help, but said no application had been made for assistance yet.
Elsewhere in the peripheries, Portugal's foreign minister said a failure to adopt a broad coalition government to deal with the financial crisis could push the country out of the euro currency.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Technicals showed there was some level of support for the Euro STOXX 50, the euro zone's blue-chip index.
The index fell 0.1 percent to 2,818.85 points, after briefly dipping below the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement of the index's fall from an April high to a May low at 2,805.95 points after testing it in the previous session.
"After going through it on Friday and then bouncing back up, I think the 61.8 Fibonacci retracement level will act as a level of support for the index," Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital, said.
Valuations for the STOXX Europe 600 one-year forward price-to-earnings stood at 10.7 against a 10-year average of 13.4, Thomson Reuters Datastream showed.
On the upside, merger and acquisition talk helped gains in Invensys which jumped 7 percent after traders cited a Daily Telegraph report that China Southern Rail may bid for the British engineering group. Invensys declined to comment.
MAN rose 5.1 percent on news the German truck maker and Sweden's Scania were in talks over a possible combination of the two companies.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was down 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX was up 0.1 and France's CAC 40 was 0.1 percent lower.
The Thomson Reuters Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index was down 0.2 percent. (Reporting by Joanne Frearson; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)