* FTSEurofirst 300 index gained 0.4 percent
* Miners rise as gold hits a record high, copper up
* Insurers gain after Thursday's ECB rate rise
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, April 8 (Reuters) - European shares set a five-week
closing high on Friday, led by miners tracking stronger metal
prices and investors positioning themselves for an expected
positive start to the U.S. corporate results season next week.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
shares closed up 0.4 percent at 1,148.45 points, above its
50-day moving average, after ending below it on Thursday when
investors took profits on concerns about an aftershock in
northeastern Japan.
But the trading volume was only 88.8 percent of the 90-day
average.
"The next big thing is the U.S. earnings season," Matt
Brown, trader at Catalyst Markets said. "If we want the market
to have further momentum we need the upside surprises to
continue, otherwise investors may step away."
The earnings season will begin with Alcoa Inc <AA.N> after
the market's close on Monday, while JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N>
and Google Inc <GOOG.O> are due to report later in the week.
Precious metal and copper miners were in demand on Friday as
gold <XAU=> hit a record high after the dollar weakened on the
prospect of a U.S. government shutdown and copper <CMCU3> hit
its highest in a month on expectations of increasing demand.
Precious metals miner Fresnillo <FRES.L> gained 2.4 percent,
while copper miners Kazakhmys <KAZ.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> were
up 1.9 percent and 2.8 percent respectively.
Elsewhere, insurance stocks rose as investor's turned their
attention back to Thursday's European Central Bank first
interest rate rise since the 2008 financial crisis to curb
rising inflation.
"The companies which will benefit from higher interest rates
are prominently financials - in particular insurance groups, and
especially life companies," Parus Shah, manager of the 93
million euro ($133.9 million) Fidelity Funds European Special
Situations portfolio, said.
"Insurance companies do well because their investment
business benefits from the rise in the yield curve. I currently
hold two insurance companies - Allianz and ING."
The STOXX Europe 600 insurance sector index <.SXIP> gained
1.1 percent to feature among the best performers, also helped by
a UniCredit recommendation to go long on insurers.
Swiss Life <SLHN.VX>, Allianz <ALVG.DE> and ING Groep
<ING.AS> were up 1.1 to 3.5 percent.
EURO ZONE PERIPHERAL CAUTION
However, fund managers said although Portugal's request for
a bailout had been taken positively debt problems facing the
euro zone peripheral countries had not gone away, with the
market expecting further ECB interest rate rises.
"The problems facing the periphery are likely to reappear at
some point, in spite of the better near-term sentiment. With
inflation also likely to remain above target," said Martin
Harvey, manager of the Threadneedle Global Bond Fund which has
306 million pounds ($501.4 million) of assets under management.
But traders put these concerns in the background, with
Spain's IBEX 35 <> rising 0.6 percent and Italy's benchmark
<.FTMIB> gaining 0.7 percent, but Portugal's PSI 20 <> was
flat.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 <> index was up 0.8
percent, Germany's DAX <> was 0.5 percent higher and
France's CAC 40 <> rose 0.8 percent.
On the downside, Dutch logistics group TNT <TNT.AS> dropped
12.6 percent after doubts were cast over the outlook for its
express unit it aims to spin off. []
($1=.6943 euros)
($1=.6103 pounds)
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
