* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.1 pct; gains for fifth day
* Financials among top gainers, HSBC up after results
* Commodity shares down as crude, metals prices fall
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - European shares rose for a fifth
straight session on Tuesday as banks gained after HSBC <HSBA.L>
said loan impairment allowances for its U.S. consumer finance
business fell in the third quarter, the first fall since 2006.
At 0946 GMT the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was up 0.1 percent at 1,012.66 points after
touching 1,014.83, the highest level in more than two weeks.
The index, which jumped 2 percent in the previous session,
is up 22 percent in 2009 and has surged 57 percent since hitting
a record low in early March.
Banks were among the top gainers, with HSBC rising 3.2
percent after it said its underlying third quarter profits were
"significantly ahead" of a year ago. []
Standard Chartered <STAN.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>,
Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> and UBS <UBSN.VX> were up 0.2 to 2
percent.
Barclays Plc <BARC.L>, however, fell 2.3 percent. It said
strong investment banking helped limit a fall in profit in the
third quarter and it expects bad debts to peak earlier than it
had previously expected. []
European shares also got support from strong gains in the
U.S. market on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average
<> hitting a 13-month high after the Group of 20 pledged to
keep aid flowing to the world economy.
"Another triple digit rally in the States has given a
bullish tone to trading this morning," said Brian Myers, analyst
at ODL Securities.
"There is feeling that confidence is returning as we head in
to the Christmas period," he added.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index <>, Germany's
DAX <> and France's CAC 40 <> rose 0.2-0.3 percent.
COMMODITIES UNDER PRESSURE
Energy and mining shares came under pressure as commodity
prices retreated after rising in the previous session.
Miners slipped as copper <MCU3> fell 0.7 percent, zinc
<MZN3> was down 1.3 percent and nickel <MNI3> declined 2.2
percent. Anglo American <AAL.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, Xstrata
<XTA.L> and Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L> fell 0.8 to 1.7
percent.
Crude oil prices <CLc1> fell 0.3 percent as tropical storm
Ida, which cut U.S. oil and gas supplies, was downgraded from a
powerful hurricane and U.S. crude oil stockpiles were forecast
to rise slightly. BG Group <BG.L> fell 0.3 percent, while Total
<TOTF.PA> was down 0.4 percent.
Vodafone <VOD.L> led mobile telecommunications shares down
and fell 2.5 percent. It reported in-line first-half results and
an extension to its cost-cutting programme but analysts focused
in on likely operating margin pressures.
"Despite this, margins (are) expected to deteriorate by 210
basis points compared to 180 basis points before. This reflects
Indian pressures plus a likely increase in Vodafone's commercial
activity in Europe," analysts at Cazenove said in a note.
TeliaSonera <TLSN.ST> fell 1.6 percent, while Deutsche
Telekom <DTEGn.DE> was down 0.3 percent.
In macro-economic news, French industrial output fell an
unexpected 1.5 percent in September, but managed to rise 2.9
percent in the third quarter as a whole, national statistics
office Insee said on Tuesday. []
(Additional reporting by Harpreet Bhal; Editing by Greg
Mahlich)
