* FTSEurofirst 300 rises 1.3 pct but down for the week
* Banks, commodity shares gain
* Volkswagen, Porsche fall
By Dominic Lau
LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Friday
on prospects that the global economic recovery was still on track
following recent improving economic data, with banks and
commodity stocks leading the gainers.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European
companies closed 1.3 percent higher at 861.63 points on a
"triple witching" day, after rising 0.6 percent on Thursday to
snap a four-session losing run.
Triple witching is the expiry of stock index futures, stock
index options and single stock options.
The index, however, lost 2.7 percent this week -- the second
weekly loss since early March, which was the start of current
rally that has seen the pan-European benchmark up 33.5 percent
from the lifetime low hit on March 9.
"The third quarter when we start seeing the earnings coming
through and the corporate statements that come with it will be
the most interesting time," said Philip Lawlor, chief portfolio
strategist at Nomura.
Lawlor said any indication from major companies that things
were not as bad as they had thought or order books were starting
to firm up would send the market higher.
Banks were among the top gainers, with Barclays <BARC.L>,
Banco Santander <SAN.MC>, Standard Chartered <STAN.L>, BBVA
<BBVA.MC>, Credit Agricole <CAGR.PA> and Societe Generale
<SOGN.PA> up between 1.2 and 5 percent.
European Union leaders agreed more steps to avert a repeat
of the banking crisis that has sapped the world economy and the
International Monetary Fund said 2010 might deliver stronger
growth than earlier forecast. []
Morgan Stanley downgraded its euro zone growth forecast for
2009 to minus 4.4 percent from minus 3.3 percent but said it was
starting to see upside risk building on its 2010 forecast of 0.5
percent growth.
Insurers were also higher, helped by a positive sector note
from Deutsche bank. The broker upgraded price targets for Aviva
<AV.L> and AXA <AXAF.PA>, which gained 5.8 percent and 1.1
percent, respectively.
Index heavyweight oil producers were in demand, buoyed by
firmer crude prices. BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.AS>,
Total <TOTF.PA>, Repsol <REP.MC> and BG Group <BG.L> put on 0.6
percent to 3.8 percent.
Firmer metal prices also lifted mining shares, with Xstrata
<XTA.L>, Vedanta Resources <VED.L>, BHP Billiton <BLT.L>,
Fresnillo <FRES.L>, Lonmin <LMI.L> and Anglo American <AAL.L>
rising 2 percent to 5.6 percent.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <> rose 1.5 percent,
Germany's DAX <> was flat and France's CAC 40 <>
advanced 0.9 percent.
Volumes on the FTSEurofirst 300 were nearly 140 percent of
its 90-day average daily volume.
VOLKSWAGEN, PORSCHE DOWN
Porsche <PSHG_p.DE> was down 1.4 percent after the car maker
said big gains on derivatives bets linked to Volkswagen shares
<VOWG.DE> offset a decline in nine-month earnings at its core
sports car business. Volkswagen ordinary shares shed 3 percent.
Within the auto sector, Daimler <DAIGn.DE> slipped 2.7
percent and BMW <BMWG.DE> lost 1.5 percent.
Telenor <TEL.OL> dropped 4 percent after Russia's bailiffs
service said it had passed an order to auction off Telenor's
shares in mobile firm Vimpelcom <VIP.N> to cover a $1.7 billion
fine for holding back Vimpelcom's entry into Ukraine.
[]
(Editing by Sue Thomas)
