LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares rose sharply in early trading, with banks and commodity price-sensitive stocks among the best performers as shares of French bank Societe General /quotes/comstock/23r!pgle (FR:GLE 42.90, +0.99, +2.36%) climbed 2.3% and shares of metals giant BHP Billiton /quotes/comstock/13*!bhp/quotes/nls/bhp (BHP 59.85, +1.12, +1.91%) /quotes/comstock/23s!a:blt (UK:BLT 1,554, +59.00, +3.95%) rose 4.1%. Shares of oil giant BP /quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp (BP 51.96, +0.61, +1.19%) /quotes/comstock/23s!a:bp. (UK:BP. 537.50, +7.75, +1.46%) rose 1.6% after ING upgraded the firm to buy from hold, saying large-cap oil firms look relatively defensive. The U.K. FTSE 100 index climbed 1.2% to 4,456.69, the German DAX 30 index advanced 1.4% to 5,068.42 and the French CAC-40 index rose 1.4% to 3,341.78.
