Europe shares inch up; earnings help lift sentiment

Reuters - UK Focus

PARIS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - European shares inched higher in early trading on Wednesday, extending the previous session's sharp gains, with a raft of positive corporate results from companies including ABB (NYSE: ABB - news) and Husqvarna lifting sentiment.

At 0711 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.1 percent at 1,300.72 points, after surging 2.1 percent on Tuesday.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Swiss engineering group ABB gained 3.1 percent after posting a bigger-than-expected rise in orders, helped by demand from the oil and gas industries, while outdoor equipment maker Husqvarna (Other OTC: HSQVY - news) surged 6.1 percent after reporting a larger-than-expected rise in earnings. (Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by James Regan)