* FTSEurofirst 300 closes 0.7 percent higher
* Forecast-beating results from Philips boost sentiment
* Heavyweight pharmas among major gainers
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - European stocks closed higher on
Monday, as Dutch giant Philips <PHG.AS> helped reinforce
investor confidence in the third-quarter earnings season, still
in its early stages.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
rose 0.7 percent to 1,005.37 points, the highest close since
Sept. 23.
The European benchmark index is up 56 percent from its
lifetime low of March 9, as investors have become more confident
on the prospects of economic recovery.
Philips surged 7.7 percent after posting better than
expected third-quarter results, as the world's biggest lighting
maker and Europe's biggest consumer electronics producer
benefited from cost-cutting measures. []
"The results of companies like Phillips are important, and
other corporates are also reporting decent profits," said Franz
Wenzel, strategist at AXA Investment Managers, in Paris. "It's
on the basis of restructuring, but that's not a big problem at
this juncture. It's helping to push the market higher.
"The main reasons for the stock market rally are still in
place. The macroeconomics are improving. And, importantly, we
still have ample liquidity," he said.
Shares of tech companies and conglomerates gained ground,
with Siemens <SIEGn.DE> and Nokia <NOK1V.HE> up 2.6 percent and
2.2 percent respectively.
Alcatel-Lucent <ALUA.PA> rose 5.1 percent, helped by a
rating upgrade from Societe Generale which upgraded its
recommendation on the stock to 'hold' from 'sell'.
Around Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index <> closed 0.9
percent higher, Germany's DAX index <> rose 1.3 percent,
and France's CAC 40 <> was up 1.2 percent.
Wall Street was higher around the time European bourses were
closing, though trading was subdued on Columbus Day, with no
major economic data released.
The Dow Jones <>, S&P 500 <.SPX> and Nasdaq Composite
<> were up 0.5-0.6 percent.
Earnings were due later in the week from several U.S.
bellwethers Intel Corp <INTC.O>, Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N>,
Citigroup <C.N>, Bank of America <BAC.N>, Goldman Sachs <GS.N>,
JPMorgan <JPM.N>, Google <GOOG.O> and General Electric <GE.N>.
PHARMAS GAIN
The heavyweight pharmaceutical sector, one of the poorer
performers since March, gained. GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L>,
Novartis <NOVN.VX>, Roche <ROG.VX> and Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA>
rose 1.4-2.4 percent.
Most banks were higher. Banco Santander <SAN.MC>, Deutsche
Bank <DBKGn.DE>, and UBS <UBSN.VX> were up 1.1-2.1 percent. The
banking sector <.SX7P>, which had a dismal 2008, has jumped
nearly 170 percent since the market bottomed in early March.
But two British banks bucked the trend.
Lloyds <LLOY.L> fell 2.5 percent after people familiar with
the matter said it has lined up six investment banks to run a
rights issue expected to be worth over 10 billion pounds ($15.9
billion) as the lender seeks to cut its reliance on the
government. []
Barclays <BARC.L> fell 1.2 percent. The Financial Times
reported it was planning to spin off a 4-billion-pound portfolio
of complex credit assets in a bid to further clean up its
balance sheet.
Oil companies gained ground as crude oil futures <CLc1> rose
2.5 percent to more than $73 a barrel.
Total <TOTF.PA>, BP <BP.L> and Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>
rose 1.3-1.8 percent.
Among other individual shares, Vodafone <VOD.L> rose 1.6
percent, rebounding after falls last week helped by reassuring
comments from Deutsche Bank which repeated its 'buy' rating on
the mobile telecoms heavyweight.
Dutch brewer Heineken <HEIN.AS> fell 3.3 percent after UBS
downgraded it to 'neutral' from 'buy'.
(Additional reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Dan Lalor
