European shares up for 2nd week in tech-led rally

By Amanda Cooper

LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Friday, led by technology stocks, after Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson (ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) roundly beat expectations with its earnings figures, while the banking sector stabilised.

Ericsson shares rose as much as 27 percent at one point during the day, after the mobile phone network equipment maker's surprisingly robust first-quarter profits.

Ericsson shares ended up 16.6 percent, helping push the DJ Stoxx index of European technology shares up 3.4 percent, putting it on track for its first monthly gain since September last year.

Beyond techs, financials were the top performing sector, gaining after a couple of weeks in which results at several institutions have not been quite as bad as feared, and a number of banks have taken measures to shore up their balance sheets, giving investors confidence that perhaps the worst of the credit crunch is over.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 1.1 percent at 1,330.84 points, having hit a session peak of 1,336.70 -- its highest since late February -- which marked a gain of as much as 1.6 percent.

The index has risen nearly 0.4 percent this week, putting it on track for a 5.4 percent gain in April, making this its best monthly performance since October 2003.

But the European equity market is still nearly 20 percent below last year's highs and has lost 12 percent this year as interbank lending rates stay high and economic data suggests the slowdown in the United States is spreading.

This week in the euro zone, German business sentiment hit its lowest since January 2006, while euro zone manufacturing data came in soft enough to boost expectations for a cut in regional interest rates this year.