Europe Up on U.S. Stimulus Package, banks, tech and commodity shares (Reuters) (25-01-2008)

LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - European shares are advancing on Friday as investors take heart from the speedy arrangement of the U.S. economic stimulus package which already boosted Wall Street and Asian markets.

Shortly after opening the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 1.1 percent at 1,345.15 points, adding to a 5.4-percent advance on Thursday, in the wake of sharp gains in Asia.

Banks and oil shares were leading gains. Standard Chartered rose 2.4 percent and Commerzbank 2.3 percent; even French bank Societe Générale rose 2.5 percent one day after stunning markets by disclosing a trader fraud that lost it 4.9 billion Euros.

BP rose 1.7 percent as oil prices breached $90 a barrel.

A 2-percent rise in copper futures lifted stock in miners, with Kazakhmys, Vedanta and Antofagasta up between 3 and 6 percent.

Shares in brewer Heineken rose 1.7 percent after it and partner Carlsberg agreed a joint cash bid for Scottish & Newcastle, which was up 2 percent. Carlsberg was up 0.2 percent.

Global stocks rose after the U.S. Congress and the White House agreed the outlines of a stimulus package that would give 117 million U.S. families a tax rebate. The agreement came less that a week after President George Bush said a proposal was in the works.

Analysts said there were plenty of positives emerging from the United States but expected share volatility in the short term.

Britain's FTSE was up 1.1 percent, Germany's DAX up 2.2 percent and France's CAC up 1.3 percent.

European shares have lost 12 percent so far this year, putting January on track to be the worst month for the FTSEurofirst 300 since September 2002.

Investors have been worried by the prospect of a recession in the United States, the world's biggest economy, and problems for bond insurers, which guarantee more than $2 trillion of securities.

The FTSEurofirst 300 gained 1.6 percent last year after a 16 percent gain in 2006, and a bull run that began in 2003 has floundered badly in recent months.

Source: Reuters