London - French stocks Alcatel Lucent, Technip and Renault led a rise in European shares early on Thursday after posting upbeat corporate updates.
Auto-maker Renault upgraded its European auto market growth forecast, telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent improved its gross profit margin in the latest quarter and oil services group Technip posted higher-than-expected operating profit.
The shares rose between 5 percent and 10 percent by 10:08 SA time, with France's benchmark CAC 40 index up 0.9 percent.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.7 percent to 1,328.88 point by 10:09 SA time. - Reuters