Miners, techs help European stocks end higher

By Blaise Robinson

PARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - European stocks closed higher on Friday, helped by rallying tech and mining shares, but ended the week down nearly 4 percent on U.S. recession worries and as fresh fears over the fate of bond insurers hammered banking shares.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 0.5 percent higher at 1,302.36 points. Europe's benchmark index lost 3.7 percent on the week.

"There is certainly the feeling that this week's trading has done little to inspire confidence that we are definitely over the worst," David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, wrote in a note.

News that Moody's Investors Services cut its triple-A ratings for "monoline" bond insurer XL Capital Assurance, a unit of Security Capital Assurance SCA.N, heightened fears of more write-downs for banks.

French bank Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) lost 4.1 percent, Fortis (FOR.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) dropped 1.5 percent and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) shed 2 percent.

Problems for bond insurers became the latest blow to European shares when U.S. bond insurer Ambac (ABK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) lost its vital triple-A credit rating from Fitch Ratings last month, putting at risk billions of dollars of corporate and municipal bonds covered by the company.

Monoline insurers underwrite securitised debt products, which effectively transfers the triple-A ratings the insurers have to the repackaged debt securities that typically comprise tranches of risk well below the very highest grade.

If the insurers lose their top ratings, so do the bonds they have underwritten.