Industrials, RBS lift European stocks

FRANKFURT, Feb 4 (Reuters) - European shares ended higher on Monday for a third consecutive day as investors favoured industrial and automotive stocks and shrugged off resurfacing growth concerns in the United States.

Among major movers were shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research), which rose by more than 4 percent after a report that the bank could sell assets including its minority stake in Bank of China (3988.HK: Quote, Profile, Research).

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index unofficially closed 0.1 percent higher at 1,354.98 points, having fallen by as much as 0.2 percent to the day's low at 1,351.49 points and erasing an earlier rise to the day's high at 1,367.24, which marked a gain of 0.98 percent.

"This is a brief technical recovery and I wouldn't see this as a change of direction," said Christian Stocker, equity strategist at UniCredit Global Research, referring to the recent equity sell-off.

The industrial sector was among the strongest positive weights in Europe with Vestas VWS.CO up 7.7 percent after the world's top wind power plant producer raised its 2007 sales and profit outlook. (Reporting by Eva Kuehnen)