* FTSEurofirst 300 index up 0.6 pct
* Banks among top gainers
* Commodities track crude, metal prices higher
By Harpreet Bhal
LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - European shares closed at a
seven-week high on Wednesday as equities shook off two straight
sessions of losses, with banks rallying and oil majors supported
by firmer crude prices.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
shares closed up 0.6 percent at 1,058.81 points, its highest
closing level since Jan. 19. The index, which has gained 57
percent since reaching a lifetime low in March last year, is up
1.2 percent so far this year.
Banks were higher, with HSBC <HSBA.L>, Societe Generale
<SOGN.PA>, BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, UBS <UBSN.VX> and Deutsche
Bank <DBKGn.DE> up 0.4 to 2.7 percent. Greek banks <.FTATBNK>
were up almost 4 percent.
Barclays <BARC.L> gained 0.6 percent. The bank was said to
be looking to buy a retail bank in the United States to extend
its presence after acquiring Lehman Brothers' North American
operations in 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported.
[]
Analysts said investors' confidence in equities was partly
driven by positive economic data from the United States, notably
the better-than-expected non-farm payrolls numbers in February,
which reinforced the view that the economy was recovering.
"The news from the United States has generally been quite
encouraging on the jobs front. It seems to have been enough to
have drawn a lot of people into the market who were waiting for
some confirmation of further activity," said Geoff Wilkinson,
head of investment research at Mint.
Energy shares were higher, supported by a rally in crude
prices <CLc1>, which rose more than $1 to nearly $83 a barrel
after as stocks of the motor fuel in the United States dropped
unexpectedly.
BP <BP.L>, BG <BG.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, Total
<TOTF.PA> and Repsol <REP.MC> rose 0.9 to 1.5 percent.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <>, Germany's DAX
<> and France's CAC 40 <> rose 0.7 to 0.9 percent.
MINERS GAIN
Mining stocks were also higher, with metals prices supported
by better-than-expected Chinese imports data, which raised hopes
of a global economic recovery.
Anglo American <AAL.L>, Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L>,
Kazakhmys <KAZ.L>, BHP Billiton <BLT.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L>
gained 1.1 to 2.7 percent.
On the downside, brewer Carlsberg <CARLb.CO> fell 1.5
percent amid renewed market talk that Russia may ban the sale of
beer at kiosks.
British American Tobacco <BATS.L> shed 3.1 percent as the
stock traded ex-dividend.
In economic news, figures showed German exports posted their
biggest drop in a year in January, throwing the economy's main
growth engine into reverse and leaving it on a weak footing at
the start of 2010. []
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a speech at
Thomson Reuters in Canary Wharf that the UK economy was growing
but the recovery was still in its early stages and remained
fragile.
Data released by the National Institute for Economic and
Social Research (NIESR) showed that Britain's economy grew by
0.3 percent in the three months to February and has expanded by
0.7 percent since last September's trough. []
Across the Atlantic, U.S. wholesale inventories fell
modestly in January, while sales rose to their highest level
since October 2008, suggesting that inventories would continue
to support economic growth in the first quarter. []
(Editing by Rupert Winchester)
