LONDON: European shares hit an 11-week high on Thursday as upbeat earnings from companies like Electrolux raised investors' appetite for risk assets, although the rally is likely to be muted on warnings of a tough environment ahead.
Electrolux rose 4.4 percent as its earnings topped forecasts, but it predicted a flat or slightly lower demand in its key European market this year. AkzoNobel gained 5 percent also after beating estimates, but warned of a tough environment and continuing high costs for raw materials.
AkzoNobel helped the Chemical sector, up 1.3 percent, to feature among the top gainers, while the STOXX Europe Automobile and Auto Parts index raced 1.8 percent higher on expectations of an improvement in vehicle demand.
At 0804 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.4 percent at 1,057.70 points after rising up to 1,058.24, the highest since early May. It is on track for a seventh straight week of gains, the longest weekly winning run since mid-2005, on a good start of the second quarter earnings season.
"So far so good on the earnings season. This is helping to support share prices given that expectations for corporate earnings in Europe are low and valuations are depressed," Robert Parkes, equity strategist at HSBC Securities, said.
"We expect a resilient performance in 2012, with earnings growth in the range of zero to 5 percent. We recommend a tilt to value and are overweight banks, energy, materials, telecoms and utilities."
To date, 64 percent of European large and mid-cap companies have beaten or met second-quarter earnings forecasts, with profits up on average 3.4 percent year-on-year, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine data.
Machinery and tool maker Sandvik jumped 6 percent as robust demand lifted earnings above market expectations in the second quarter but said growing uncertainty about the economy meant it was heading into the third quarter with an elevated level of caution.
EARNINGS HELP TECH SHARES
The technology sector, which gained strongly in the previous session on forecast-beating results from the world's largest chip equipment maker ASML and rival Intel , extended gains and was up 1 percent after IBM raised overnight its full-year earnings target.
"There have been some good company results, which have lifted sentiment. But I don't think investors have been complacent as the euro zone situation is still in the background," Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.
Several European countries are struggling to manage their debt levels. Spain's midterm borrowing costs are set to rise at an auction later in the day as investors remain unconvinced the government can control its finances and revive growth, even after the broad set of spending cuts and tax hikes it unveiled last week.
Analysts said that recent gains in European shares still did not point to the start of a prolonged rally as investors remained uncertain whether the US Federal Reserve would launch another round of stimulus to help a fragile economic recovery and the debt situation in Europe stayed challenging.
They suggested that investors should stay cautious and hold shares that tend to outperform the broader market in a difficult economic environment.
"People should generally look at the defensive sectors as their core portfolio holdings, and selectively add some cyclical sectors to gain from any strong rally," Bowman said.
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