* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.5 pct, 5th day of gains
* Index set for best weekly gains since late Nov
* IBM results boost tech stocks but Nokia extends losses
* Banks up ahead of Citi, Bank of America quarterly results
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Dominic Lau
LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - European shares rose for the
fifth straight day on Friday led by banks and commodity stocks
ahead of earnings from Citi <C.N>, Bank of America <BAC.N> and
General Electric <GE.N>.
By 0800 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was up 0.5 percent at 871.06 points, after
hitting its highest closing level in a month on Thursday.
The index was up 7.1 percent this week, on track to post its
best weekly gains since late November last year.
Banks were among the top gainers, with Deutsche Bank
<DBKGn.DE>, Banco Santander <SAN.MC>, Societe Generale
<SOGN.PA>, HSBC <HSBA.L> and Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> up
0.6-1.4 percent.
Swedbank <SWEDa.ST> reversed earlier losses to trade up 3.3
percent despite posting a bigger-than-expected second quarter
operating loss, hurt by huge provisions for souring credits in
the recession-hit Baltic region.
"The market is looking for good news and it is interpreting
everything as good news. Whether it is interpreting it
correctly, I am not too sure," said Justin Urquhart Stewart,
director at Seven Investment Management.
"However, their (interpretation) skills may be challenged
over the next few weeks... although the banking figures will
show banks are doing well, the global economy is still slow," he
said. "We are going to come out of recession in the next two
quarters and go into a dull grey world."
Commodity stocks also traded higher, with BP <BP.L>, Royal
Dutch Shell <RDSa.AS> and Total <TOTF.PA> rising 0.3-0.9
percent.
In the mining sector, BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Rio Tinto
<RIO.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> took on
0.8-2.2 percent.
U.S. stocks rallied for a fourth day on Thursday after
JPMorgan's <JPM.N> strong results fed growing optimism about the
quarterly earnings season and technology shares rose in
anticipation of more good news.
IBM <IBM.N>, after the market close, sharply raised its
full-year earnings forecasts as it benefits from focusing more
on higher-margin businesses in software and services.
Google's <GOOG.O> quarterly profit also beat Wall Street
expectations, but the weak economy and slump in advertising
spending took a toll on revenue growth and the price of its
search ads.
In Europe, Alcatel-Lucent <ALUA.PA>, ASML <ASML.AS>,
STMicroelectronics <STM.PA> and Infineon <IFXGn.DE> were up
0.6-3.1 percent.
Heavyweight Nokia <NOK1V.HE>, however, was down 2.8 percent,
extending Thursday's 15 percent drop after the world's top
cellphone maker cut its profitability and market share forecasts
due to tough competition at the top end of the market.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <> added 0.6 percent,
Germany's DAX <> rose 0.9 percent and France's CAC 40
<> gained 0.6 percent.
LOOKING UP
UBS lifted its year-end target for the FTSEurofirst 300 to
1,000 from 900, or an increase of nearly 15 percent from current
level, as it expected a turn in the earnings cycle.
"We believe that after 1-1/2 years, we are approaching an
end to the earnings downgrades given: earnings momentum has
risen sharply; consensus estimates for 2009 have halved over the
last nine months and; the macro backdrop continues to improve,"
Nick Nelson, UBS's European equity strategist said in a note.
On the downside, French group Accor <ACCP.PA> sank 7.8
percent after it posted a 9 percent drop in second quarter sales
as the economic crisis weighed on its hotel business despite
slight growth in its prepaid services division.
Carrefour <CARR.PA>, the world's second-biggest retailer
behind U.S. group Wal-Mart <WMT.N>, lost 2 percent after saying
second-quarter sales fell 1.2 percent, hurt by weaker western
European markets, lower petrol prices and exchange rates.
(Editing by Mike Nesbit)
