European Shares Climb Higher Led By Swedish Retailer H and M, Man Group

(AHN) - European equities climbed on Thursday after positive news from a Swedish retailer posted higher earnings amid weak U.S. dollar as well as mining sector boosted up the shares.

The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index was moving up by 1.31 percent to 304.63 at 11:21 a.m. in London markets, led by the positive sentiment in the markets due to the earnings reports.

National benchmark indexes advanced in all 17 western European markets that were open on Thursday.

Shares of BHP Billiton gained by 1.1 percent in European markets.

Of national indexes on Thursday, at 9:48 a.m. GMT in London, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index was climbing up by 54.80 point or 0.97 percent at 5,715.20 points.

At the same time, the German DAX 30 index was advancing by 79.48 points or 1.22 percent at 6,568.74 points and the French CAC-40 index was rising by 46.02 points or 0.98 percent at 4,722.70 points.

The Europe's second largest clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz posted better-than-expected first-quarter profit report on Thursday after its net earnings increased by 28 percent to $485 million (2.94 billion Swedish krona).

Shares of Hennes & Mauritz added by 4.1 percent to 352 Swedish kronor after it beat the 2.8 billion-krona average estimate projected by some market analysts.

Shares of world's largest publicly traded hedge fund manager Man Group PLC advanced by 3.2 percent to 562.5 pence in London markets following its report that its annual earnings will beat the projection from the market analysts due to rising performance fee income.

The Man Group's positive news can regain some confidence in the investors as the economies tackle with the credit losses and mortgage writedowns from global banks, which have reached to more than $208 billion.

Switzerland's largest life insurer, Swiss Life rose by as much as 6.5 percent after the firm reported that its last year's earnings increased by 44 percent to a record 1.35 billion Swiss francs ($1.36 billion).

The insurer's profits had risen after it sold its Belgian and Dutch units and the Banca del Gottardo private bank in 2007.

"Valuations are beginning to discount the worst of the downturn," Richard Moore, who manages the Santander U.K. Growth Fund in London and owns Man Group shares. Santander Asset Management oversees $234 billion worldwide, told Bloomberg.

"One recent change I have made is to buy back into the banking sector, Moore said.