* FTSEurofirst 300 index closes up 2.5 percent
* U.S. economic data boosts sentiment
* Commodities gain as crude, metal prices rise
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - European shares closed sharply
higher on Wednesday, with banks, oils and miners rising after
economic data in the U.S. proved less downbeat than forecast.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares rose 2.5 percent to close at 811.41 points,
taking its gain for the past two sessions to 4.4 percent. .
"I wouldn't call this optimism, I'd call it less pessimism,"
said Neil Parker, strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland.
"There was a lot of trepidation about the U.S. numbers. They
were better than expected, but they're still pretty
catastrophic."
The U.S. service sector shrank in January, but less severely
than expected. The Institute for Supply Management said its
non-manufacturing index came in at 42.9 in January compared with
40.1 in December. []
U.S. private sector job losses slowed slightly in January,
ADP Employer Services said on Wednesday in a report that came in
slightly below economists' expectations. []
Parker cautioned: "You have to be careful about the ADP
employment number. That is just an effort to estimate what the
(Official Government) payroll number is going to be on Friday."
Banks added most points to the index. Deutsche Bank
<DBKGn.DE> rose 3 percent on hopes that Germany's biggest bank
will be upbeat about 2009 prospects when it reports
fourth-quarter results on Thursday.
BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, Barclays <BARC.L>, Credit Suisse
<CSGN.VX>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, Lloyds <LLOY.L> and UBS <UBSN.VX> rose
between 3.3 and 9.3 percent.
The DJ Stoxx Bank Index <.SX7P> rose 3.5 percent, but is
still down 10 percent in 2009, having lost 65 percent in 2008.
Banks have been hit by a credit crisis that has resulted in
several of them requiring a government bail-out.
ENERGY COMPANIES GAIN
Energy stocks were also among the biggest gainers in the
index, with crude oil prices <CLc1> edging up.
Total <TOTF.PA>, ENI <ENI.MI>, BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell
<RDSa.L>, and Repsol rose between 2.3 and 3.5 percent.
Miners surged as gold and copper prices gained. BHP Billiton
rose 9.4 percent after it reported a 2.2 percent increase in
first-half profits, aided by Chinese demand growth.
[]
Anglo American <AAL.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, Rio Tinto
<RIO.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> were up between 9.3 and 14.8
percent.
But drugmakers were on the slide, with Roche <ROG.VX>
falling 9.1 percent after the group said it sees growth slowing
this year and reported a 5 percent drop in its 2008 profit and
missed expectations, hurt by a fall in Tamiflu drug sales and
the strong Swiss franc. []
AstraZeneca <AZN.L>, which went ex-dividend, closed 5.2
percent lower.
Munich Re <MUVGn.DE>, the world's biggest reinsurer,
unveiled a disappointing drop in premiums at the start of the
year as well as a sharp fall in 2008 earnings due to the
financial crisis, sending its shares down 2.9 percent.
[]
But British life insurer Aviva <AV.L> rose 11.2 percent
after it soothed concerns about its capital strength and said
its dividend was safe, while reporting a forecast-beating 8.6
percent rise in 2008 sales.
Further evidence of economic weakness in the euro zone
emerged as the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in
Ireland rose in January to the highest monthly level since
records began in 1967, as a deepening recession spread from
construction across the economy. []
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <> index closed up 1.5
percent, Germany's DAX <> was 2.7 percent higher and
France's CAC 40 <> was up 2.9 percent.
U.S. stocks were higher around the time European bourses
were closing. The Dow Jones <>, S&P 500 <.SPX> and Nasdaq
Composite <> were up between 0.6 and 2 percent.
(Additional reporting by Joanne Frearson; editing by Rupert
Winchester)
