* FTSEurofirst 300 closes gains 0.7 pct, up for 5th day
* Banks gain; euro zone debt worries ease
* BSkyB surges after takeover approach
* BP sinks to fresh 13-year low
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - European shares rose for a fifth straight session on Tuesday, as strong demand for Irish, Belgian and Spanish government debt helped to soothe worries about the euro zone's fiscal health.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <
> index of top shares rose 0.7 percent to 1,037.68 points, the highest close since May 13.The index has gained for five straight sessions, rising 5.9 percent in the process, but is still down 6.9 percent from a peak in mid-April before fears intensified that Greece's debt crisis could spread to other euro zone countries and undermine the global economic recovery.
"The market had got to a point where sentiment was weak and valuations were attractive," said Graham Secker, equity strategist at Morgan Stanley.
"People were getting too pessimistic on the growth outlook. The market was oversold and is bouncing back and can continue to make some progress in the coming weeks. We only need stabilisation for the market to go higher."
The debt sale helped to allay investors' worries over the region's fiscal health after Moody's downgraded Greece's debt rating to junk status.
Spain's Treasury raised 5.2 billion euros at its 12- and 18-month T-bill auction on Tuesday.
Banks were among the biggest gainers. BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, Banco Santander <SAN.MC>, Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> and Standard Chartered <STAN.L> rose between 2 and 3.7 percent.
Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> rose 3.9 percent after setting a net profit goal of 6 billion euros ($8.05 billion) for 2012 and doubling its target for this year, as the bank seeks to restore investor confidence in a tough business environment. [
]Shares in BSkyB <BSY.L> surged 16.6 percent on expectations that News Corp <NWSA.O>, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, would raise its proposed offer of 700 pence per share, or $11.6 billion, for the 61 percent of the British pay-TV company it does not already own.
BSkyB rejected the approach, saying it would support an offer over 800 pence.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <
> ended the day 0.3 percent higher; Germany's DAX < > and France's CAC 40 < > rose 0.8 and 1 percent respectively.The Thomson Reuters Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index <.TRXFLDPIPU> was up 2.3 percent.
Wall Street was higher around the time European bourses were closing. The Dow Jones <
>, S&P 500 <.SPX> and Nasdaq Composite < > were up between 1.1 and 1.4 percent.U.S. data was mostly upbeat, with manufacturing in New York state growing in June even as employment declined. [
]
BP SLIPS FURTHER
BP <BP.L> fell a further 3.8 percent to a fresh 13-year closing low as it tries to contain the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and came under further pressure from U.S. politicians. Ratings agency Fitch downgraded the company's debt rating to "BBB" from "AA". UK supermarket giant Tesco <TSCO.L> rose 0.7 percent after a trading update, while rival J Sainsbury <SBRY.L> rose 1.5 percent ahead of an trading update due on Wednesday.
Back in macroeconomics, German analyst and investor sentiment fell more than expected in June, and by the most since the height of the financial crisis in 2008, the Mannheim-based ZEW economic think tank's monthly poll showed. [
]Investors have become less bullish about the global economy but have not given up on riskier assets, finding equities as cheap as they have been since March 2009, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch poll showed on Tuesday. [
] (Editing by Greg Mahlich)