* FTSEurofirst 300 hits 1,000-mark for first time since Oct
* Banks, commods gain on hopes of a quicker global recovery
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - European shares rose in early
trade on Wednesday, with the main FTSEurofirst 300 index hitting
the 1,000 mark for the first time since October 2008, boosted by
stronger banking and commodity stocks on global recovery hopes.
By 0845 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was up 0.9 percent at 1001.43 points, rising for
the eighth sesssion out of nine.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares,
which is up 20 percent so far in 2009, is still down 14 percent
from its level in mid-September 2008 before the bankruptcy of
Lehman Brothers.
"Another day in this brilliant bull market. The news around
the world has been pretty good again in the last 24 hours ...
with comments from (Bank of Englang Governor Mervyn) King and
(U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben) Bernanke that the recession
had finished," said Jim Wood Smith, head of research at Williams
de Broe.
"Although the EU story that Lloyds maybe be forced to sell
Halifax is probably bad for Lloyds as it would limit integration
and cost cutting scope, the market has probably been expecting
it ... it has already been priced in," he said.
The European Commission may force Lloyds Banking Group
<LLOY.L> to sell all or part of its key Halifax subsidiary in
compensation for the billions of pounds of state aid the group
has received, the London Times reported. []
Lloyds shares gained 2.5 percent.
The banking sector <.SX7P> added the most points to the
index, with HSBC <HSBA.L>, Barclays <BARC.L> and UBS <UBSN.VX>
up 1.4 to 2 percent.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <> index was up 1.1
percent, Germany's DAX <> rose 0.9 percent and France's
CAC 40 <> was 1.1 percent higher.
COMMODITIES GAIN
Energy stocks were higher as crude <CLc1> steadied at $70 a
barrel. Tullow Oil <TLW.L> gained 4.3 percent after the
Financial Times reported that the company and U.S. producer
Anadarko Petroleum <APC.N> were set to announce they have
established a new oil frontier stretching 1,100 km along the
African coast. []
BG Group <BG.L>, Repsol <REP.MC> and Royal Dutch Shell
<RDSa.L> were up 0.4 to 1.3 percent.
Miners rose tracking firmer metal prices. Copper <MCU3=LX>
gained 0.5 percent, aluminium <MAL3=LX> was up 1 percent and
nickel <MNI3=LX> was 0.8 percent higher.
Anglo American <AAL.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, BHP Billiton
<BLT.L>, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation <ENRC.L>, Rio
Tinto <RIO.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> were 2.4 to 3.6 percent
higher.
Drugmakers took the most points off the index as investors
decided to switch out of defensives. Roche <ROG.VX>,
Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> and AstraZeneca <AZN.L> were down 0.3
to 0.5 percent.
Aerospace and defensive stocks were also out of favour.
Zodiac Aerospace <ZODC.PA> fell 6.1 percent after the French
aerospace supplier said current operating income rose less than
10 percent in the year to Aug. 31, below its forecast for "20
percent-plus" growth.
Bernanke said on Tuesday that the worst U.S. recession since
the Great Depression was probably over, but the recovery would
be slow and it would take time to create new jobs. []
However, some analysts were still cautious about the extent
of a recovery and warned the market could be set for further
setbacks.
"Both sides of the Atlantic are saying we are now out of
recession, but growth is going to be slow and anaemic," said
Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management.
"This is where you are seeing a separation between economic
data and market attitude. The market still has an attitude that
money is to be invested and it is fair value, but the economy is
showing that there is still going to be weakness ... we could be
in a dangerous period," he said.
(Editing by Hans Peters)
