* FTSEurofirst 300 index rises 0.2 percent by midday
* Financial services, auto shares among top gainers
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By Atul Prakash
LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - European equities edged higher on Monday, led by financial services and automobile shares, with investors betting that recent macroeconomic numbers will prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to announce more stimulus measures.
At 1129 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.2 percent at 1.073.12 points after hovering in a narrow band of 1,070.18-1,074.33.
The STOXX Europe 600 Financial Services index featured among the top gainers, up 0.9 percent, with Schroders, Provident Financial and Ashmore rising 0.8 to 2.8 percent.
"There are expectations that we will see another round of quantitative easing, basically from the United States," said Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Wealth.
Weaker-than-expected jobs data in the United States on Friday raised hopes the Federal Reserve would inject fresh funds into the economy at its Nov. 2-3 meeting.
Potts said the market will also be driven by third-quarter earnings. The outlook looked relatively bright, while not holding the promise of the strong gains in profitability seen earlier this year.
"The winter worries will create a difficult backdrop for developed market equities to push ahead further from the very strong gains that we saw in the third quarter, and investors need to increasingly think about switching exposure to faster-growing emerging markets equities," he added.
Intel and JP Morgan are among companies announcing results this week, as the U.S. earnings season gathers pace.
The market also got some help from macroeconomic numbers. Data showed Italian industrial output was much stronger than expected in August, mirroring a similar surge in Germany and indicating euro zone economic growth will remain solid in the third quarter.
The STOXX Europe 600 Automobiles & Parts index was among the top risers, with Daimler AG, Porsche and Fiat rising 1.2 to 2.5 percent.
HOLDING FIRM
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index ended last week in positive territory for a second straight week. The index has surged 66 percent since a low in March last year, but is up just 2.6 percent this year.
"(Last week's) price action makes it clear the Eurofirst is holding firm above the uptrend that began after the lows in March 2009 and, while this remains the case, a further test of the highs, at 1,112, remains possible," Bill McNamara, technical analyst at Charles Stanley, said.
"The recent low, at 1,051, is another level that we might have to keep an eye on in the near term."
Swedish white goods maker Electrolux rose 4.7 percent after saying it struck a preliminary deal to buy Egypt's Olympic Group , the biggest appliance maker in the key emerging markets region of the Middle East and North Africa.
Aerospace and defence group EADS fell 2.6 percent after Citigroup downgraded to "hold" from "buy". The recent strengthening of the euro also hurt the shares.
(Editing by David Hulmes)