European shares end higher; banks, miners gain

LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - European shares ended higher on Wednesday, led by financials, after the biggest-ever liquidity injection by the European Central Bank boosted hopes that the move could help pull the euro zone economy out of a recession.

The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top shares provisionally closed 2.4 percent higher at 853.56 points, recovering from two straight sessions of losses.

The ECB lent banks 442.241 billion euros in the 371-day operation at a fixed 1.00 percent rate, higher than the 300 billion euros forecasted by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Banking stocks were among top gainers, with Barclays (BARC.L), BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), HSBC (HSBA.L), Lloyds (LLOY.L), Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) and UBS (UBSN.VX) climbing between 1.1 percent and 6.6 percent.

"The market probably sees it as a small step in the right direction," said Philippe Gijsels, senior equity strategist at Fortis Bank in Brussels.

Miners were also higher, tracking gains in metals prices. Anglo American (AAL.L), Antofagasta (ANTO.L), BHP Billiton (BLT.L), Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC.L), Rio Tinto (RIO.L) and Xstrata (XTA.L) gained 3.4 to 6.8 percent.

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index .FTSE was up 1.2 percent, Germany's DAX .GDAXI climbed 2.7 percent and France's CAC 40 .FCHI was 2.2 percent higher. (Reporting by Harpreet Bhal)