BP share advance again; Unilever upgraded to buy at Goldman Sachs By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares rose in early trading on Tuesday, after Alcoa results got the U.S. second-quarter earnings season off to a good start and BP shares climbed sharply for the second day. The Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:SXXP 252.30, +1.12, +0.45%) rose 0.3% to 252.04, the sixth straight session of gains for the index. On Monday, the index rose 0.4%, helped by a strong performance from oil giant BP (UK:BP. 417.95, +19.00, +4.76%) (BP 36.76, +2.71, +7.96%) which traded up 4% to 414 pence on Tuesday after the firm said that, following installation of a capping stack, a well integrity test will begin Tuesday on the MC252 well in the Gulf of Mexico. BP has been battling to stop oil spilling out of the well since an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20, an event which triggered a steep plunge in the firm's share price. Of the major regional benchmarks, the U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,198, +30.49, +0.59%) rose 0.5% to 5,194.25, the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 3,580, +12.07, +0.34%) rose 0.3% to 3,579.30 while the German DAX index (DX:DAX 6,103, +26.30, +0.43%) rose 0.1% to 6,085.91 ahead of Zew data on German investor sentiment due later in the morning. The euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.2529, -0.0059, -0.4687%) declined 0.4% to $1.2539 against the dollar ahead of the data and after Moody's Investor Service downgraded Portugal's bond ratings two notches to A1 from Aa2, with the ratings outlook stable. Portugal's (XX:PSI20 7,273, -31.85, -0.44%) PSI 20 index declined 0.2% to 7,294.59, with Energias de Portugal (PT:EDP 2.48, -0.02, -0.60%) slipping 1%. Asian shares also declined, erasing early gains after a sell-off in Shanghai following reports the Chinese government has no plans to ease property market policies. U.S. stock futures were narrowly mixed following the forecast-beating results from aluminum giant Alcoa (AA 10.87, -0.07, -0.64%) . Read more on Alcoa results. Stocks that are more sensitive to economic growth were broadly higher in Europe, with automaker Volkswagen (DE:VOW3 74.78, +1.25, +1.70%) up 2.1% and steelmaker ThyssenKrupp (DE:TKA 21.90, +0.38, +1.74%) shares up 2.1%. Household products giant Unilever (UK:ULVR 1,870, +26.00, +1.41%) (UL 27.98, -0.07, -0.25%) (UN 28.84, -0.02, -0.07%) rose 1.3% after it was upgraded to buy at Goldman Sachs and placed on the broker's conviction buy list. The broker said that it believes the firm's restructuring phase is coming to an end and the company is set for growth. "We believe that the market is underestimating the returns and growth potential from exposure to emerging markets and a reduction in restructuring spend," it said. French cosmetics giant L'Oreal (FR:OR 82.05, -0.04, -0.05%) , down 0.4%, said late Monday that its second-quarter comparable sales rose 5.2%, less than the 5.4% to 6.4% rise expected by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires. Ubisoft Entertainment (FR:UBI 6.97, +0.59, +9.31%) shares vaulted 9.3% after it said fiscal first-quarter ending June 30 sales climbed 93% to €160 million, which was ahead of its previous guidance of sales of €145 million. The video games maker cited the performance of Splinter Cell Conviction, a good performance by back catalogue and casual titles, and favorable exchange rates. It projects second quarter sales around €83 million, and it still expects "profitable growth and positive cash flow from operating activities."

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