* FTSEurofirst 300 extends Tuesday's gains, up 0.2 pct
* Technology shares advance; Apple results help
* Airlines gain as flights in Europe resume
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - European shares drifted higher
in early trade on Wednesday after sharp gains in the previous
session, with technology stocks up following strong Apple
<AAPL.O> results and airlines gaining as flights resumed.
At 0831 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was up 0.2 percent at 1,105.10 points after
rising 1.4 percent on Tuesday. The index has surged 71 percent
since hitting a record low in early March last year.
Technology stocks gained as Apple Inc's results blew past
Wall Street expectations on the back of record iPhone sales, and
the company gave a strong revenue forecast, sending its shares
up more than 5 percent to an all-time high. []
ARM Holdings <ARM.L>, Ericsson <ERICb.ST>, Logitech
<LOGN.VX>, STMicroelectronics <STM.PA>, ASML Holding <ASML.AS>
and Infineon <IFXGn.DE> rose 1.6 to 3.7 percent.
"Sentiment is getting better again following good results,
but investors will keep an eye on some other important things
such as U.S. jobless claims data on Thursday. If that is
faltering, then the stock market will have some difficulty,"
said Koen De Leus, an economist at KBC Securities.
"The stocks are climbing a wall of worries, but the wall is
getting higher and higher. And my worry is that sooner or later
this wall is too high to climb," De Leus said, referring to
Greece's fiscal problems, the fraud charge against Goldman Sachs
<GS.N> and the volcanic eruption.
Airline stocks gained after Europe's skies were re-opened
for business on Wednesday, but with so many planes having been
grounded by the pall of volcanic ash spreading from Iceland it
could take days, or weeks, to clear the backlog if flights.
British Airways <BAY.L>, Lufthansa <LHAG.DE>, Iberia
<IBLA.MC>, Ryanair <RYA.I>, Aer Lingus <AERL.I> and Air
France-KLM <AIRF.PA>, EasyJet <EZJ.L> rose 1.2 to 2.4 percent.
BANKS WEAKER
Banks were under pressure, with investors remaining cautious
after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on
Friday charged Goldman with fraud over its handling of a debt
product tied to subprime mortgages. Britain's market watchdog
has launched its own probe.
The STOXX Europe 600 banking index <.SX7P> fell 0.3 percent,
with HSBC <HSBA.L>, BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, Societe Generale
<SOGN.PA>, UBS <UBSN.VX>, Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> and Deutsche
Bank <DBKGn.DE> down between 0.2 and 0.9 percent.
Among individual movers, global miner BHP Billiton <BLT.L>
fell 1.2 percent. The company has discovered potential
violations of anti-graft laws relating to its exploration
activities. The case is under investigation by the U.S. markets
watchdog. []
Heineken NV <HEIN.AS>, the world's third-largest brewer, fell
1.3 percent after reporting a greater-than-expected drop in
first-quarter sales, with drinkers in emerging markets failing
to make up for lower volumes in Europe.
(Editing by Karen Foster)
