* FTSEurofirst 300 rises 0.6 percent after falls on Wed
* Food producers advance on strong Nestle results
* Engineering companies down; ABB falls 6 percent
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - European shares bounced back in
early trade on Thursday, with positive financial stocks and
stronger food producers, following impressive Nestle <NESN.VX>
results, more than offsetting weaker engineering companies.
At 0825 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was up 0.6 percent at 1,102.46 points after
falling 0.7 percent in the previous session. The index is up 70
percent since hitting a record low in early March last year.
Investor appetite for risky assets such as equities rose,
with the VDAX-NEW volatility index <.V1XI> falling 2.8 percent.
The lower the index, which is based on sell and buy options on
Frankfurt's top-30 stocks <0#.GDAXI>, the higher the market's
desire to take risk.
"The near-term outlook is positive. The reporting season has
been incredibly supportive both in terms of companies exceeding
expectations and positive outlooks," said Henk Potts, equity
strategist at Barclays Wealth.
"The results that we have been seeing are confirmation of a
strong bounce back in corporate profitability. Fundamentals are
still supportive for equity markets to add to the recent rally."
Food companies were among the top gainers, led higher by
Nestle, which rose 2.5 percent. The world's biggest food group
beat forecasts with a 6.5 percent rise in underlying
first-quarter sales and reassured investors by repeating its
full-year growth targets. []
Unilever <ULVR.L>, Parmalat <PLT.MI>, Danone <DANO.PA> and
Danisco <DCO.CO> rose 0.6 to 1.1 percent.
Financial stocks also rose, with STOXX Europe 600 banking
index <.SX7P> up 0.4 percent. Standard Chartered <STAN.L>, HSBC
<HSBA.L>, Lloyds <LLOY.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>,
Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> and Credit Agricole <CAGR.PA> rose
0.5 to 2.3 percent.
But Credit Suisse's <CSGN.VX> investment banking results
came in below forecast-beating gains at U.S. peers, dragging
shares down 2.9 percent even as the bank won new wealthy
clients' money faster than in any quarter since 2005.
Investors awaited a raft of quarterly earnings from U.S.
companies including Microsoft <MSFT.O>, Amazon.com <AMZN.O> and
American Express Co. <AXP>.
GREECE CONCERNS
Analysts said Greece's fiscal situation might put a cap on
the stock market's gains in the near term. The FTSEurofirst 300
index has been struggling to break the current trading range. It
has fallen 4 times in the past 8 sessions.
"We expect no substantial movement on the upside and see
risks to the downside. The situation in Greece is still worrying
and the bond market is not convinced that the rescue efforts are
a done deal," said Tammo Greetfeld, strategist at UniCredit.
Greece started talks to hammer out details of a potential
European and International Monetary Fund aid deal on Wednesday
but investors dumped Greek assets and the package faced heated
resistance at home and abroad. []
Engineering firms slipped, with ABB <ABBN.VX> falling 6
percent after providing a cautiously optimistic outlook after
its first-quarter orders beat expectations and said firms making
big investments in power equipment were not expected to feel the
economic recovery until later this year. []
French engineering group Alstom <ALSO.PA> fell 1.5 percent.
Automakers were higher, with Fiat <FIA.MI> rising 1.3
percent, following results on Wednesday, when it also announced
a demerger of its truck and industrial businesses.
BMW <BMWG.DE>, Daimler AG <DAIGn.DE>, Porsche <PSHG_p.DE>,
Volkswagen AG <VOWG.DE>, Peugeot <PEUP.PA> and Renault <RENA.PA>
gained 0.5 to 1.4 percent.
(Editing by Hans Peters)
