* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.7 pct, extends Tuesday's rally
* Alcatel soars after results beat forecasts
* Roche tumbles as results disappoint investors
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on []
By Blaise Robinson
PARIS, Feb 4 (Reuters) - European stocks climbed in early
trade on Wednesday, extending the previous session's rally as
forecast-beating results from Alcatel-Lucent <ALUA.PA>
overshadowed disappointing earnings from Roche <ROG.VX>.
Miners were on the rise after BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, the
world's biggest miner, posted a 2.2 percent increase in
first-half profits, boosted by a last burst of Chinese demand
growth. BHP was up 3.3 percent, while Rio Tinto <RIO.L> gained
2.1 percent and Anglo American <AAL.L> added 2 percent.
At 0937 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was up 0.7 percent at 797.69 points. The
benchmark index -- which is still down 4.5 percent in 2009 --
gained 1.9 percent on Tuesday, boosted by Vodafone's <VOD.L>
reassuring update.
"We're getting a breather after a series of negative
sessions. Overall, corporate results are not as bad as people
had feared. But that doesn't mean the bear market is over," said
Jacques Henry, analyst at Louis Capital Markets, in Paris.
Alcatel-Lucent gained 7 percent after it posted
forecast-beating quarterly sales and adjusted earnings before
interest and taxes, while booking a fresh impairment charge of
3.91 billion euros ($5.10 billion), reflecting a "drastic
deterioration" of the global outlook.
"It looks like the results are well received by the market,
which focuses on the operational side. The big impairment charge
had been expected," one trader said.
Shares of Alcatel-Lucent, recently plagued by a series of
profit warnings, had plummeted 70 percent in 2008, falling
behind the DJ Stoxx technology index <.SX8P>, which lost 50
percent.
Banks were on the upside, with Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE>
surging 5.3 percent on speculation that Germany's biggest lender
will be upbeat about 2009 prospects when it reports
fourth-quarter and full-year results on Thursday, traders say.
"There are hopes that they have written off everything 'bad'
in the fourth quarter and have therefore been able to get off to
a good start in 2009," one trader said.
Public works group Vinci <SGEF.PA> gained 2 percent after
reporting fourth-quarter sales figures seen as in-line with
market expectations.
On the downside, Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche dropped
7.8 percent after it posted a 5 percent fall in 2008 profit,
missing expectations, and said it sees growth slowing this year.
The disappointing results dragged other pharma stocks, with
Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> down 1.1 percent and AstraZeneca
<AZN.L>, which also traded ex-dividend, down 3.9 percent.
Munich Re <MUVGn.DE>, the world's biggest reinsurer, lost
4.3 percent after posting a drop in profit for the final three
months of last year, blaming the intensifying financial crisis.
Around Europe, UK's FTSE 100 index <> was up 0.7
percent, Germany's DAX index <> up 0.8 percent, and
France's CAC 40 <> up 1.2 percent.
The market was also buoyed by data showing a rise in China's
official manufacturing index, coupled with a surge in bank
lending, feeding optimism that the world's third-largest economy
may soon be on its way to a recovery.
Later in the session, investors' focus will turn to the U.S.
ADP National employment data, a preview for Friday's
eagerly-awaited U.S. monthly jobs data.
($1=.7672 Euro)
(Additional reporting by Peter Starck in Frankfurt; Editing
by Sharon Lindores)
