UPDATE 2-European stocks record best quarter since March 2015 on recovery hopes

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* STOXX 600 records a more than 12% quarterly gain
* Healthcare, oil, banks weigh on STOXX 600
* Shell to write down $22 bln in assets, shares slide

(Updates to market close)
By Sruthi Shankar
June 30 (Reuters) - European stocks rose marginally on
Tuesday to close out their best quarter since March 2015 as
investors bet that the worst economic fallout from the
coronavirus crisis had passed.
After lingering in negative territory, the pan-European
STOXX 600 .STOXX finished 0.1% higher, led by technology
.SX8P , mining .SXPP and real estate .SX86P sectors.
A bounce on Wall Street also helped lift sentiment as
investors focused on signs of an economic rebound even as
several U.S. states marked a record spike in new COVID-19
infections. In Europe, the picture was mixed with German stocks .GDAXI
rising 0.6%, while UK's FTSE 100 .FTSE dropped 0.9% as data
showed Britain's economy shrank by the most since 1979 in early
2020 as households slashed their spending. Financial markets in the recent weeks have been torn between
fears of a resurgence in coronavirus cases globally and positive
economic data as many countries emerge from weeks-long lockdown,
slowing the pace of a stock market recovery in June.
The STOXX 600 posted a 12.6% rise in the second quarter -
its best since March 2015 - as unprecedented stimulus, hopes of
a COVID-19 vaccine and relatively fewer virus cases in Europe
powered a rebound from March lows, but the index is down 13.6%
for the year.
"We think that a renewed panic in financial markets is
unlikely, even if cases in the U.S. continue to rise," analysts
at Capital Economics wrote in a note.
"The main risk to our forecast that risky assets will gain
further ground in the remainder of 2020 is that the latest
outbreaks slows down the economic recovery in the U.S."
Chipmakers STMicroelectronics STM.MI , Infineon
Technologies IFXGn.DE , ASM International ASMI.AS rose
between 1.6% and 5.8% following an upbeat revenue forecast from
U.S.-based Micron Technology MU.O . UK energy major Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L fell 3.9% after
revealing plans to slash the value of its oil and gas assets by
up to $22 billion and weakened the outlook for energy prices.
Europe's broader energy index .SXEP fell 1.4% as oil
prices slipped on a possible return of Libyan production. O/R
Swedish airline SAS SAS.ST slumped 12.6% after it agreed
to a 14.25 billion crown ($1.5 billion)plan with top
shareholders to shore up its finances against the collapse in
air travel. Scandal-hit payments company Wirecard WDIG.DE jumped
75.8%, extending gains for a second day.


($1 = 9.3011 Swedish crowns)