* FTSEurofirst 300 rises 0.9 pct, hits 2-week high
* Banks among top gainers; BNP Paribas rises 2.2 pct
* Charts suggest further gains; risk appetite grows
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - European equities advanced for a
third straight session to a two-week high on Wednesday as
forecast-beating results from BNP Paribas helped banks and
stronger commodity prices supported mining and energy shares.
Charts pointed to further gains in the near term and risk
appetite grew as soothing results from banks such as Barclays
<BARC.L>, Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> and JPMorgan <JPM.N> improved
sentiment, though the sector is still weighed down by writedowns
on toxic assets and the debt woes of Greece.
At 0933 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was up 0.9 percent at 1,011.13 points after
rising to a high of 1,013.19, the highest since early February.
The benchmark index is up 56 percent since hitting a record low
in March 2009.
Banks were among the top gainers, with BNP Paribas
<BNPP.PA>, France's biggest listed bank, rising 2.2 percent
after posting higher fourth-quarter profits that beat market
forecasts. []
Standard Chartered <STAN.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, Barclays, Lloyds
<LLOY.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>, Societe Generale
<SOGN.PA>, Credit Agricole <CAGR.PA> and Natixis <CNAT.PA>
gained 0.8 to 2.4 percent.
"There is a general positive buzz about markets following a
triple digit gain in the U.S.," said Owen Ireland, analyst at
ODL Securities.
"Momentum appears to be back on to the upside, as traders
gain confidence that the Greek situation can be resolved."
U.S. stocks posted their biggest daily percentage gain in
three months on Tuesday after strong revenue from drugmaker
Merck and regional manufacturing data instilled confidence in
the economic outlook. []
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index <>, Germany's
DAX <> and France's CAC 40 <> were 0.6-1.3 percent
higher.
RISK APPETITE GROWS
Investor appetite for risky assets such as equities rose,
with the VDAX-NEW volatility index <.V1XI> falling 4.6 percent
to a four-week low before paring losses. The lower the index,
which is based on sell and buy options on Frankfurt's top-30
stocks <0#.GDAXI>, the higher the market's desire to take risk.
The technical picture also looked bright in the short term,
but the index faced resistance at some key levels.
"We are looking for further upside in the near term. We are
probably going to ... push towards the highs of Feb. 3, which
comes in around the 1,033 area," said MacNeil Curry, technical
analyst at Barclays Capital.
"A sustained break above the level will end a small trend of
lower highs and lower lows since mid January."
Charts suggested the FTSEurofirst 300 index faced Fibonacci
resistance at 1,023 points -- its 38.2 percent retracement of
the major fall from July 2007 to March 2009.
The index fell below that level in late January and has
failed to convincingly break the point despite repeated attempts
since then.
Miners got strength from higher metals prices, with copper
<MCU3> rising 0.6 percent and aluminium <MAL3> gaining 0.7
percent. BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L>,
Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L> and
Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L> rose 0.7 to 2.7 percent.
Among individual movers, Man Group <EMG.L> jumped 6.4
percent, with traders citing talk of takeover interest from U.S.
fund group BlackRock <BLK.N>. BlackRock declined to comment,
while Man Group was not immediately available for comment.
[]
Q-Cells <QCEG.DE> fell as much as 5.7 percent to a record
low after Equinet cut its target price in the solar cell maker
ahead of preliminary results on Feb. 23.
(Editing by Hans Peters)
