Europe shares hit 3-week high on data; banks gain

LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - European shares hit a three-week closing high on Wednesday, boosted by financials and miners, as investors' appetite for risky assets such as equities grew following positive macro-economic figures from China. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares provisionally ended up 0.3 percent at 1,013.36 points, the highest close since Oct 22. The index, which has gained in five of six sessions, is up 22 percent in 2009 and has surged 57 percent since hitting a record low in early March. Banks were among the top gainers, with France's biggest retail bank Credit Agricole rising 6 percent after the lender's third quarter net profit fall less than many had expected and the bank chose a new chief executive from its influential regional divisions. Standard Chartered, HSBC, Lloyds, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Natixis and UBS rose 0.7 to 4.5 percent. "Positive macro-economic data from China helped the market today," said Tammo Greetfeld, equity strategist at UniCredit. "The recent macro data has alleviated some concerns and we are convinced that the equity market will get a tailwind from positive data in the coming months. We think that the cyclical high in equities is still to come," he added. Chinese factory output growth surged to a 19-month high in October, showing the world's third-largest economy has firmly put the worst of the global financial crisis behind it. (Reporting by Atul Prakash) Keywords: MARKETS EUROPE STOCKS/CLOSE ([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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