* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.4 percent
* Anticipation grows of ECB anti-crisis measures
* Banks among the top gainers
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By Harpreet Bhal
LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - European shares edged up on Thursday as speculation grew that the European Central Bank (ECB) could outline new measures to try to prevent the euro zone debt crisis spreading, with banking stocks among the risers.
By 1150 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.4 percent at 1,093.28 points, having earlier hit a one-week intraday high at 1,099.69 points.
The ECB was expected to keep its unlimited liquidity operations in place for longer. Also, expectations grew that the central bank could announce new anti-crisis measures including government-bond buying on a larger scale to contain the debt problems.
Detail of any new measures were expected to be announced at a news conference at 1330 GMT following the central bank's monthly rate-setting meeting.
"There is a big weight of expectation towards (ECB President Jean-Claude) Trichet at the moment and on how the ECB is going to solve any problems that might impact Spain or Portugal, which is where most people see risk as being weighted towards," said Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index.
Banks rose, with Spanish banks Banco Santander and BBVA up 2.5 percent and 2 percent respectively, while Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale and Royal Bank of Scotland rose 1.0-2.1 percent.
Falls in heavyweight pharmaceuticals capped gains on the index, with GlaxoSmithKline down 0.8 percent after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve the drugmakers prostate drug Avodart.
The sector was also pressured by a negative note from UBS which cut its strategy rating on European pharmaceuticals to "underweight" from "neutral".
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 were up 0.1-0.6 percent, while the Thomson Reuters Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index added 1.3 percent.
STRONG AUTOS
Carmakers were also higher, boosted by data showing U.S. auto sales rose a stronger than expected 17 percent in November. Volkswagen, Porsche and Renault rose 2.3-2.5 percent.
Investors will await further data from across the Atlantic for fresh clues on the progress of the economic recovery, including U.S. pending home sales and weekly jobless data.
Analysts said the market was also being underpinned by growing optimism over the pace of economic recovery, a day after U.S. data pointed to an improving labour market and growth in the manufacturing sector.
"The economic data from the States is increasingly reassuring," said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin, adding the euro zone debt crisis was preventing markets pushing higher despite a brightening economic outlook.
Among individual movers, Dutch mail and logistics firm TNT rose 5.3 percent after detailing the planned separation of its Express activities from its mail activities and said it would keep a 29.9 percent stake in the Express unit. (Additional reporting by Brian Gorman; Editing by Dan Lalor)