* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.4 percent
* Track U.S., Asia strength
* Miners get copper boost, Imperial Tobacco up on Q4
* For up-to-the minute market news, click on []
By Simon Jessop
LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Wednesday,
extending the previous session's near three-week high, as
corporate earnings continued to underpin investor risk appetite,
while miners gained after copper hit a record high.
At 0908 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> was trading up
0.4 percent at 1,164.15 points, after closing Tuesday up 1.4
percent on the back of positive U.S. and euro zone manufacturing
data, which more than offset Middle East political risk fears.
"The world economy appears to be improving a little faster
than expected, valuations are ok and companies are publishing
quite good results," Geert Ruysschaert, strategist at BNP
Paribas Fortis Private Banking, said, "so investors can take
advantage of that."
The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources <.SXPP> led sectoral
gainers, up 1.4 percent, on the back of a copper price surge to
just shy of $10,000 a tonne. []
Among miners, heavyweights Xstrata <XTA.L>, BHP Billiton
<BLT.L> and Rio Tinto <RIO.L> all rose 2.5 percent to 3 percent.
Leading both the sector and all index gainers, however, was
mining group ENRC <ENRC.L>, which topped the leaderboard with a
3.5 percent gain after posting a 5.6 percent rise in ferroalloy
production during the fourth quarter.
Elsewhere among the top gainers, Imperial Tobacco <IMT.L>
rose 3.8 percent on bumper fourth-quarter results and after it
said it had made a good start to the year. []
Those strong earnings mirrored U.S. corporate strength in
the previous session, where results from United Parcel Service
<UPS.N> had helped the Dow Jones industrial average <> close
at its highest level since June 2008.
In Asia overnight, the Nikkei index <> rose 1.8 percent
to post its biggest daily gain in around two months.
Receding fears about the impact of Egypt's political turmoil
on world markets also helped underpin the rally, said a
London-based trader at a leading U.S. investment bank.
"It looks like the issue will be resolved in a somewhat
peaceful manner, which has put the market at ease," he said.
"The market has more or less resumed the course it was on."
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <>, Germany's DAX
<> and France's CAC-40 <> were all up between 0.1
percent and 0.8 percent.
ELECTROLUX, SCANIA LEAD FALLERS
Not all corporate earnings were positive, however, with
world number two white goods maker Electrolux <ELUXb.ST> at the
top of the fallers list, down 6.5 percent, after fourth-quarter
core earnings lagged forecasts.
The company said it would raise prices this year to battle
higher raw materials costs and expected to see positive effects
from the second quarter. []
Among financials, Spanish lender BBVA <BBVA.MC>, which
kickstarted the earnings season for the big banks, was flat
after it said higher funding costs had hit income last year,
against a 0.9 percent higher sector index <.SX7P> boosted by
gains for Greek and Irish lenders. []
Swedish truckmaker fell sharply on forecast-lagging
quarterly earnings and a flat outlook, and was down 5 percent by
0902 GMT.
Among other fallers, leading pharmaceutical firm Roche
<ROG.VX> fell 2 percent after giving a cautious outlook for
2011, on U.S. healthcare reform and pricing pressure, which in
turn weighed on AstraZeneca <AZN.L>, down 3.7 percent.
[]
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
