European stocks edge up, lifted by financials

* STOXX 600 ends slightly higher

* Barclays rises on Exane upgrade, boosts banking sector

* PostNL surges after Q2 results

* Meggit rises after investor takes stake (ADVISORY- Follow European and UK stock markets in real time onthe Reuters Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets)

By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Alistair Smout

LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - European stock markets rose onMonday, propped up by gains in the shares of major banks andother financial stocks, while Dutch firm PostNL surged afterresults.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index edged up 0.04percent, with Germany's DAX, Britain's FTSE and France's CAC all0.1-0.6 percent higher.

The STOXX Europe 600 Bank index advanced 1.4percent, helped by a 3.6 percent rise at Barclays after ExaneBNP Paribas upgraded Barclays to "outperform" from "neutral".

Insurers also rose, up 1.5 percent, while basicresources stocks were up 1.7 percent as miners rallied onstronger copper and iron ore prices.

Shares in Dutch postal service operator PostNL surged 8.2 percent after the company confirming its full-yearoutlook, while analysts also welcomed a surprise improvement inits equity position.

According to data from Thomson Reuters StarMine, 61 percentof companies on the STOXX 600 index have beaten or met forecastswith their second quarter results so far, although thoseearnings are down 15 percent from last year on average.

"There's plenty of confidence over in the States, and that'sbeen helping Europe, but I'd still be on the defensive sideconcerning European markets and I'd be looking to sell rallies,"said Berkeley Futures' associate director Richard Griffiths.

"There's still much macroeconomic uncertainty in Europe."

Defence equipment maker Meggitt rose 8.8 percentafter activist investment firm Elliot Capital Advisors took astake of over 5 percent in the firm.

Traders also said stocks were being supported by a rally onU.S. markets, with the S&P 500 starting the week with anew record high after strong jobs data on Friday.

While the STOXX 600 has recovered much of the ground lost inthe immediate aftermath of Britain's vote in June to quit theEuropean Union, the index remains down by 6 percent so far in2016.

Andreas Clenow, chief investment officer at ACIES AssetManagement in Zurich, echoed Griffiths' view of preferring U.S.to European shares at present.

"The U.S. markets look pretty healthy. We keep making recordhighs in the U.S. but the European stock markets look much moresluggish," said Clenow.

(Additional reporting by Wout Vergauwen; Editing by JanetLawrence)