* Deutsche debt buyback report soothes worries, shares up 13 pct
* Bank shares lead Europe stocks up after Asia falls
* Yen firms again vs dollar but off recent highs
* Market looks to Yellen for Fed rates guidance
* Oil rebounds, gold retreats from 7-1/2 month high (Updates prices, adds quotes )
By Dhara Ranasinghe and Nigel Stephenson
LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - European stocks rose on Wednesday, rallying after losses in Asia, as concerns about the health of banks that have hammered shares globally in recent days eased and oil prices recovered from Tuesday's steep falls.
The more upbeat tone looked set to spill over into U.S. trade, with index futures suggesting a positive open on Wall Street ESc1 1YMc1 , and took the shine off safer assets such as low-risk government debt and gold.
Investors and traders awaited Congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen for clues to the outlook for monetary policy. Sharp falls in global stocks and weak U.S. economic data have led markets to slash expectations for the pace and extent of Fed interest rate rises to follow December's first hike in nearly a decade. pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 rose 2.2 percent, with investors cheered by a Financial Times report that Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE was considering buying back several billion euros of its debt. flagship lender, whose shares have fallen almost 40 percent this year, rose more than 13 percent. The STOXX Europe 600 banks index .SX7P was up 5 percent.
"The rebound in Deutsche Bank is helping to reassure some investors who had been concerned about possible contagion in the banking sector," said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Geneva-based Prime Partners.
Italian banks Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) ISP.MI> and UniCredit CRDI.MI were both up more than 11 percent and Germany's Commerzbank CBKG.DE added 9 percent.
The FTSEurofirst index has fallen for the last seven trading days and on Tuesday hit its lowest since September 2013. It was on track to post its biggest one day percentage gain in 1 1/2 weeks.
The big banks' fortunes are seen as closely linked with the global growth outlook, which is faltering, while the adoption by several major central banks of negative interest rates to help lift growth has hit their business.
Those concerns have spread across the globe and on Wednesday helped drive Tokyo's Nikkei index .N225 to its lowest since 2014. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 8306.T fell 7.1 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.3 percent. Australian stocks .AXJO touched a 2 1/2-year trough and closed down 1.2 percent.
Oil prices, which fell 8 percent on Tuesday, rose on the prospect of OPEC and rival producers cooperating to tackle a supply glut that has sent prices to a 12-year low. O/R
Brent crude LCOc1 , the international benchmark, rose 1.7 percent to $30.82 a barrel.
Rising stocks dulled the appeal of perceived "safe-haven" assets, among which the yen has shone lately.
NEXT UP: YELLEN
The dollar languished close to a 3-1/2-month low against a basket of currencies, as traders waited for U.S. interest rate guidance from Fed chief Yellen.
The dollar index was flat at 96.143 .DXY , having touched 95.663 on Tuesday, its weakest since October.
The yen firmed against the dollar JPY= but was below a 15-month high hit on Tuesday. It last traded at 114.90 yen per dollar. The euro was down 0.3 percent at $1.1258 EUR= .
Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) strategist Kit Juckes said Yellen would have a fine line to walk when she delivers her testimony to Congress, due at 1330 GMT.
"How do you sound soothing enough about the global market environment and remain true to what you want -- which is raising rates if the sun comes back out?," he said.
German 10-year government bond yields DE10YT=TWEB , another safe haven, edged up 1.6 basis points to 0.25 percent.
Germany sold almost 4 billion euros of two-year bonds in a sale that drew strong demand, helped by bets that the ECB may cut rates by more than 10 basis points in March.
Ten-year Japanese government bonds JP10YTN=JBTC closed in Tokyo yielding 0.005 percent, having hit a record low of -0.035 percent. The JGB yield went negative on Tuesday, following the Bank of Japan's introduction of negative rates on Jan. 31.
Gold XAU= , another asset sought in times of trouble, edged down from a 7-1/2- month high as European shares rallied. It was last at $1,182.61 an ounce.