European shares gain for 9th day; hit 8-month peak

                                
 * FTSEurofirst 300 hits 2009 high, 9th day of gains
                                
 * Shares advance on better-than-expected U.S. homes data
                                
 * Financials among top gainers; miners, drugmakers rise
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, click on [STXNEWS/EU]
                                
 
                                
 By Atul Prakash
                                
 LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - European equities jumped in
afternoon trade on Thursday to hit their highest level since
November 2008 after data showed that sales of previously owned
homes in the United States rose at a faster pace than expected.
                                
 The National Association of Realtors said sales rose 3.6
percent to an annual rate of 4.89 million units from a
downwardly revised 4.72 million pace in May. June's reading
compares with forecasts for a 4.84 million unit annual pace.
[ID:nN23336138]
                                
 At 1447 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top
European shares was up 1.7 percent at 905.04 points after
touching a high of 905.60 -- the highest point for the year so
far. The index is on track to end higher for a ninth straight
session, the longest winning run since late 2006.
                                
 Banks were among the top gainers, with the DJ STOXX banking
index <.SX7P> up 2.8 percent, after Credit Suisse said it made a
net profit of 1.6 billion Swiss francs ($1.50 billion) in the
three months to the end of June, against an average forecast of
1.4 billion Swiss francs given in a Reuters poll. [ID:nLH151605]
                                
 Credit Suisse was up 5.7 percent, while Standard Chartered
<STAN.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, Lloyds <LLOY.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland
<RBS.L> and Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> gained 1.9 to 3.5
percent.
                                
 "The balance is tilting to a more positive assessment and
slowly ... investors are getting information that the economic
picture is actually continuing to improve," Tammo Greetfeld,
equity strategist at Unicredit Group.
                                
 "The start of the earnings season has been encouraging.
Investors have now discovered that the (second-quarter earnings)
were less bad in many cases than feared and more importantly
there are quite a substantial number of companies that are
giving a more upbeat outlook for the second half of the year."
                                
 Miners were also in demand, after slipping in the previous
session. BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L>,
Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L> and
Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L> rose between 3.5 and 6.2
percent.
                                
 Drugmakers also gained ground after Roche <ROG.VX> gave a
bullish forecast for the next two years following its $47
billion acquisition of Genentech and said it would expand
capacity for H1N1 flu drug Tamiflu. [ID:nLM233133]
                                
 Roche was up 3 percent, while GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L>, Merck
<MRCG.DE>, Novartis <NOVN.VX>, Novo Nordisk <NOVOb.CO>, Roche
Holding <ROG.VX>, Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> and Shire <SHP.L>
rose 0.5 to 1.2 percent.
                                
 Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index <.FTSE>, Germany's DAX
<.GDAXI> and France's CAC 40 <.FCHI> rose 1.3 to 2.2 percent.
 (Additional reporting by Harpreet Bhal; editing by Karen
Foster)