* FTSEurofirst 300 up 1 pct, hits 6-week high
* Shares extend gains after U.S. jobs data
* Financials, miners among top gainers
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on [STXNEWS/EU]
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - European shares advanced for a
sixth straight session to a six-week high on Friday after data
showed U.S. employers cut a smaller than expected 36,000 jobs in
February, with unemployment steady at 9.7 percent.
The figures strengthened views that the U.S. labour market
was on the brink of creating jobs. The Labor Department said job
losses for December and January were revised to show 35,000
fewer jobs lost than previously reported.
At 1422 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top
European shares was up 1 percent at 1,046.31 points after
touching 1,047.42 -- the highest since Jan. 21. The index, which
gained 26 percent last year, is up 62 percent since hitting a
record low in March 2009.
Banks were among the top gainers, with Standard Chartered
<STAN.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, Barclays <BARC.L>, Royal Bank of
Scotland <RBS.L>, BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, Allied Irish Banks
<ALBK.I> and Bank of Ireland <BKIR.I> rising between 2.2 and
14.7 percent.
"Every (item of) positive news is welcome, and the non-farm
payrolls figures are certainly quite helpful," said Gerhard
Schwarz, head of global equity strategy at UniCredit in Munich.
"As long as we don't have to really question the earnings
outlook, the valuation side will still lend us some support
here," he said.
Miners were also in demand, partly supported by a jump in
metals prices on improving growth outlook.
STOXX Europe 600 basic resources index <.SXPP> rose 2.6
percent after dropping 0.5 percent 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 1.8 to 4.7 percent.
WPP <WPP.L>, the largest advertising group in the world,
rose 1.9 percent after it said it believed the worst of the
advertising recession was over and expected emerging markets and
digital sales to help it record flat revenues in 2010.
[ID:nLDE6230U5]
(Editing by Will Waterman)