LONDON: European shares rose for a fifth straight day on Wednesday, on hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce further monetary easing and help put the economic recovery back on track. At 1140 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.4 percent at 1,097.43 points after hitting a six-month closing high in the previous session on encouraging company results. Volumes were less than 33 percent of the index's 90-day average. The European benchmark is up 70 percent from its lifetime low of March, 2009, with several major economies having emerged from recession, helped by stimulus from governments and central banks worldwide. In an announcement after European markets close on Wednesday, the Fed is expected to say that it is buying billions of dollars in government bonds in an attempt to breathe new life into a struggling U.S. economy, a process known as quantitative easing. "If the amount of QE was at the upper end that would be seen as a positive initially if not longer term," said Richard Jeffrey, chief investment officer at Cazenove Capital Management in London. "People have scaled back their expectations. But there's the potential for both positive and negative surprises. We're in a wait-and-see situation." Oils gained as crude prices rose 1 percent, boosted by the weaker dollar, one of the effects of traders anticipating QE. BP rose 2.5 percent, extending gains from Tuesday, when it reported better-than-expected results. Total rose 0.8 percent. But Norway's Statoil fell 6.2 percent as it slashed its 2010 oil and gas production target after extensive maintenance during the third quarter weakened earnings and cast doubt on its plans to boost production by up to 14 percent by 2012. Financial stocks were also among the top gainers. Societe Generale rose 4.1 percent after saying it would not need a capital increase to meet tougher industry rules as it reported forecast-beating quarterly results.

Source