* FTSEurofirst 300 index flat
* Banks dip on euro zone debt concerns
* BP, other oils rise as crude gains
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - European shares were flat at midday on Monday with optimism that the U.S. Federal Reserve may pump more funds into the economy offset by uncertainty over the result of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers
At 1209 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was flat at 1,104.29 points. The benchmark is up more than 70 percent from its lifetime low in March, 2009, boosted by stimulus from governments and central banks worldwide.
However, it is below the highs of a month ago as worries about euro zone peripheral sovereign debt levels resurfaced, and speculation continues about which country will be next to need a bailout.
The market initially received a boost after Fed Chairman Bernanke told the television programme "60 Minutes" that the Federal Reserve could end up buying more than the $600 billion in U.S. government bonds it had committed to purchase, if the economy failed to respond or unemployment stayed too high.
Some analysts remained upbeat, and said that the overall economic outlook was still improving, despite Friday's weak U.S. labour data.
"The data that has been coming out from the United States and most of Europe, although obviously not all Europe, has been pretty good," said Philip Isherwood , European equities strategist at Evolution Securities.
"The deflation and double dip arguments are becoming increasingly discredited." But investors grew cautious ahead of the outcome of the euro zone finance ministers meeting, which faces pressure to boost the size of a 750 billion euro ($1,006 billion) safety net, according to an IMF report obtained by Reuters. "The market is looking a bit tentative, we are looking towards the euro zone finance ministers meeting to see how much they are going to increase the safety net," Micky Mahbubani, senior sales trader at IG Index.
"But, we have not seen a major sell off yet as Bernanke's comments have been supportive. If the outcome of the meeting is not as good as expected than I expect to see a sell off," Mahbubani said.
The heavyweight banking sector was among the biggest drags on the index, with the STOXX Europe 600 Banks down 1.2 percent, and Spanish and Italian banks among the biggest losers. Intesa SanPaolo, Banco Santander, BBVA and UniCredit fell between 2.2 and 3 percent.
The energy sector was mostly higher, with oil prices hovering near $90, although they slipped back on Monday, hurt by a stronger dollar. BP, BG and Statoil were up between 1 and 1.1 percent.
"Disposals suggest hidden value," said Evolution Securities in a note on BP, reiterating its "buy" recommendation, and highlighting the benefits of disposals since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
XSTRATA RISES
In the mining sector, Xstrata rose 2.2 percent on newspaper reports Glencore, which holds a stake of nearly 35 percent in the company, is looking to raise 6.3 billion pound ($9.94 billion) for a London Stock Exchange debut as early as next year.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was 0.4 percent higher, Germany's DAX gained 0.1 percent and France's CAC 40 was down 0.3 percent.
The Thomson Reuters Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index was down 1.3 percent.
Among other individual companies, Hermes lost 2.7 percent after the family shareholders of the luxury bag maker announced the creation of a holding firm to defend it against a potential takeover bid by luxury giant LVMH.
(Additional reporting by Joanne Frearson; Editing by David Cowell)