Repsol, BG, AstraZeneca help Europe shares recover

                                
 By Blaise Robinson
                                
 PARIS, April 15 (Reuters) - European equities rose in early
trade on Tuesday, snapping a five-session losing streak as
record oil prices boosted energy shares and Repsol <REP.MC> and
BG Group <BG.L> jumped after finding oil offshore Brazil.
                                
 Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca <AZN.L> surged 8.5
percent after it settled U.S. patent litigation against India's
Ranbaxy Laboratories <RANB.BO> over its top-selling drug, ulcer
pill Nexium.
                                
 Repsol was up 10 percent and BG up 5.4 percent. The two
companies and Brazil's Petrobras <PETR4.SA>. The head of
Brazil's National Petroleum Agency said their offshore find
could be world's biggest oil discovery in the past 30 years.
                                
 Repsol shareholder Sacyr <SVO.MC> gained 15 percent.
                                
 At 0820 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top
European shares was up 0.3 percent at 1,278.21 points. The index
had lost 4 percent since April 7, hit by recession worries and
weak corporate results.
                                
 But gains were limited by weak car makers, on the downside
after publication of European sales that showed a decline for
the month as well as the quarter. Daimler <DAIGn.DE> was down
0.5 percent, Fiat <FIA.MI> down 2.7 percent and Peugeot
<PEUP.PA> down 3.4 percent.
                                
 Disappointing earnings from General Electric <GE.N> on
Friday cemented the view that the U.S. economy was tipping into
an economic downturn, sparking a stock sell-off around the
world.
                                
 Germany's ZEW economic sentiment indicator, expected at 0900
GMT on Tuesday, as well as the U.S. Producer Price index, due at
1230 GMT, could provide direction to the market.
                                
 But investors' attention will remain on the U.S. earnings
season, said Franz Wenzel, strategist at AXA Investment
Managers, in Paris.
                                
 "The focus has shifted from the financials toward the
manufacturing and industrial side," he said.
                                
 "We might see more provisions (from the banks) which could
weigh on the market. But we think that results from industrial
firms such as Alcoa and General Electric are of much greater
importance because they are giving a feeling that we are in a
recessionary mood."
                                
 Later in the week, investors will comb through quarterly
results from JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N>, due on Wednesday,
Merrill Lynch & Co <MER.N>, due Thursday, and Citigroup Inc
<C.N>, due Friday, for light on the global credit crisis.
                                
 Around Europe, Germany's DAX index <.GDAXI> was up 0.2
percent, Britain's FTSE 100 index <.FTSE> up 1 percent and
France's CAC 40 <.FCHI> up 0.2 percent.
                                
 Burberry <BRBY.L> leapt 7.7 percent after the British
fashion house forecast solid growth in wholesale revenues for
the six months to Sept. 2008, driven by its expansion in North
America and emerging markets.
                                
 Tesco Plc <TSCO.L>, the world's third-biggest retailer, rose
4 percent after it met forecasts with an 11 percent rise in
annual profit on Tuesday and said it had made a strong start to
its new financial year.
                                
 Carphone Warehouse <CPW.L> moved in the opposite direction,
tumbling 8.1 percent after the company released mixed results,
gave a weaker 2009 outlook and marginally revised down its 2008
full-year pretax profit.
 (Editing by Quentin Bryar)