European shares rise as earnings news pleases

* FTSEurofirst 300 index up 0.9 pct

* Banco Santander up as Q1 beats expectations

* Bayer slips as profit falls

By Joanne Frearson

LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - European shares rose by midday on Wednesday, recovering losses made in the previous session, buoyed by stronger-than-expected earnings news, with Banco Santander (SAN.MC) leading the gainers.

By 1038 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top shares was up 0.9 percent at 808.47 points, having fallen 1.5 percent on Tuesday.

"We have had a couple of good earnings reports which have lifted equities. In Germany, Siemens (SIEGn.DE) was quite good and we had Banco Santander which was not bad either. So we have had a little bit of momentum back into banks," said Heino Ruland, strategist at Ruland Research.

"In addition, we have had the European economic sentiment and that also showed a small recovery ... people are starting to look beyond the worst and assuming to some extent an economic recovery can be expected later on this year," he said.

Banks were among the highest movers on the index. The euro zone's largest bank Santander rose 4.1 percent after the group reported stronger than expected first-quarter figures. [ID:nLT33625]]

Nordea (NDA.ST), the Nordic region's biggest bank by value, gained 5.6 percent after it posted a much smaller-than-expected 5.9 percent fall in its first-quarter operating profit and repeated its forecast of little change in its full-year core profit in 2009. [ID:nLT43534]

Mining shares performed well as copper MCU3=LX rose 3.4 percent. Anglo American (AAL.L), Antofagasta (ANTO.L), Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) were 1.7-3.4 percent higher ahead of earnings news on Thursday.

Shares in Siemens (SIEGn.DE) gained 4.3 percent after the electronics and engineering conglomerate reported strong first-quarter figures, but cut its guidance, in a move largely anticipated by the market. [ID:nLT825382]

Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) was up 3.2 percent after it posted first-quarter earnings that beat expectations and kept its 2009 forecast for earnings per share growth of at least 7 percent at constant currency exchange rates. [ID:nLT616178]

BAYER FALLS AS PROFITS SLIP

A monthly survey by the European Commission showed economic sentiment in the 16 countries using the euro improved to 67.2 points in April from 64.7 in March, against market expectations of a rise to 65.2 points. [ID:nBRQ007298]

Later in the session, investors' focus will move to U.S. GDP data and an outlook from the U.S. Federal Reserve, looking for signs of recovery in the world's biggest economy.

On the downside, Bayer BAYG.DE slipped 3.4 percent after its core underlying profit fell 22.4 percent in the first quarter on losses from its plastics and foams business, prompting it to tone down its full-year outlook. [ID:nLS786003]

Germany's SAP (SAPG.DE) fell 2.4 percent after it posted an 8 percent decline in operating profit in the first quarter due to a slump in software revenues, missing expectations, but kept its outlook despite tough markets. [ID:nLS722275]

Dutch food group Nutreco (NUTR.AS) lost 7.9 percent after it reported a 7 percent fall in first-quarter sales and said its half-year core profit would be lower than in 2008 due to an operational loss at its Compound feed Europe business. [ID:nLT7835]

"Analysts had been expecting really bad corporate figures, and now some of the results beat forecasts, but it doesn't mean things are improving," said David Thebault, head of quantitative sales trading at Global Equities.

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 .FTSE index was up 1.3 percent, Germany's DAX .GDAXI gained 1.5 percent and France's CAC 40 .FCHI was 1.5 percent higher. (additional reporting by Blaise Robinson; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)