European shares end higher, led by commods, drugs

                                
 * FTSEurofirst 300 index closes up 2 percent
 * Commodities, pharmaceuticals gain
 * Real estate falls on gloomy outlook 
                                
 
                                
 By Joanne Frearson
                                
 LONDON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - European shares gained on Friday
in a choppy session, tracking a higher Wall Street, with both
cyclical commodity stocks and defensive drugmakers rising
sharply.
                                
 The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares
closed up 2 percent at 926.15 points, its first daily gain in
three sessions, having fallen to as low as 890.81 points in
volatile trade.
                                
 European stocks recovered from earlier lows as investors
shrugged aside weak U.S. jobs data which showed U.S. employers
cut payrolls by 240,000 in October, much more severely than
expected, while September registered the biggest monthly loss in
jobs in nearly seven years. [ID:nN06438380]
                                
 "While the jobless figures out on Friday have been bad, a
lot of it has been priced in the market. Traders are keen to get
back in again, words such as cheap valuations are begining to
fly around again," said Tom Hougaard, strategist at City Index.
                                
 "There is a growing sentiment that we have seen the lows for
some time and now people want to get in," Hougaard said.
                                
 Darren Winder, strategist at Cazenove, also said the jobs
data had only confirmed what was already feared. "Weak numbers
are also likely to put pressure on the Fed to continue easing,"
he said.
                                
 Energy stocks contributed the biggest gains on the European
index as crude <CLc1> rose 0.9 percent. BG Group <BG.L>, BP
<BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSb.L> and Total <TOTF.PA> were up
between 2.8 and 4.4 percent. 
  Winder said investors were begining to put money into the
oil sector as the stocks offered more attractive dividend yields
than other sectors.
                                
 Metals gained as copper rose <MCU3=LX>.  BHP Billiton
<BLT.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> and Vedanta Resources <VED.L> were
4.5 to 5.3 percent higher.
                                
 Pharmaceuticals also continued to rise following gains on
Thursday. Novartis <NOVN.VX>, Roche <ROG.VX> and GlaxoSmithKline
<GSK.L> were up between 2.9 and 3.4 percent. 
                                
 
                                
 SLASHED FORECAST
                                
 Insurers advanced after Munich Re <MUVGn.DE>, up 6.6
percent, said it was confident about its medium-term goal,
although it slashed its 2008 profit forecast for a second time.
[ID:nL6654572]
                                
 AXA <AXAF.PA>, Allianz <ALVG.DE> and Swiss Reinsurance
<RUKN.VX> were up 1.9 to 6 percent. 
                                
 Banks stocks were mixed. UBS <UBSN.VX> and Bank of Ireland
<BKIR.I> were down between 3.9 and 16 percent, but Barclays
<BARC.L>, Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> and Lloyds TSB <LLOY.L>
were up 1.45 to 6.9 percent. 
                                
 Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was up 2.7 percent,
Germany's DAX was up 2.6 percent and France's CAC 40 was up 2.4
percent.
                                
 Real estate was one of few sectors in the red after Morgan
Stanley said it expected a further 42 percent fall in the share
prices of major UK property companies.
                                
 It said there would be virtually no new debt advanced on UK
commercial property over the next 12 to 18 months because banks
were short of capital and felt overexposed to the asset class.
[ID:nBNG370399].
                                
 Land Securities <LAND.L> and British Land <BLND.L> were down
1.5 and 2.5 percent respectively. 
                                
 German electronic conglomerate Siemens <SIEGn.DE> lost 1.2
percent. The group is expected to report an 82.3 percent
decrease in fourth-quarter pretax profit to 273 million euros,
according to an average of 18 estimates in a Reuters poll of
analysts. [ID:nL7598991]
                                
 Lafarge <LAFP.PA>, the world's biggest cement maker, fell
2.9 percent after it abandoned its 2010 goals, citing
uncertainty triggered by the global economic turmoil.
[ID:nL7761597]
 (Editing by David Holmes)