STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Shares higher; Wall Street edges up

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14:38GMT 02Jan2009-Europe shares up; Wall Street higher

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European shares remain up midafternoon, as U.S. markets open higher.

The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares is up 1.6 percent at 844.96 points.

Oils add most to the index. Total (TOTF.PA) and BP (BP.L) are up 3.6 and 2.9 percent respectively, with crude futures CLc1 trading above $44 a barrel.

In the first few minutes of trading on Wall Street in 2009, the Dow Jones .DJI, S&P 500 .SPX and Nasdaq Composite .IXIC are up between 0.1 and 0.3 percent.

Reuters Messaging:brian.gorman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

13:32GMT 02Jan2008-Devgen rallies on valuation

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Shares in Belgian biotech group Devgen (DEVG.BR) rally on valuation grounds, after having hit a year low in December and having lost nearly 80 percent of their value since last January.

The stock trades up 9.9 percent at 3.79 euros, 17.7 percent higher than the 52-week low of 3.22 euros reached on Dec. 18. The stock has been battered recently by investor nerves over the company's cash balance.

Devgen shares remain 79.8 percent lower than their 52-week high of 18.69 euros, reached on Jan. 9 2008.

"I think this is a partial recovery, as the share price has come down quite a bit -- too much, in our view," says SNS Securities analyst Huub Verschueren, who has a target price of 6.50 euros and a hold rating for Devgen.