Europe stocks snap 5-day losing run; miners rebound
* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.8 pct, rebounds from 10-week low
* Alcoa's results ease fears; boost miners
* Defensive pharmas, food stocks slip
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on [STXNEWS/EU]
PARIS, July 9 (Reuters) - European stocks rose in early trade on Thursday, halting a sharp five-session losing streak, as forecast-beating results from U.S. bellwether Alcoa (AA.N) calmed fears over the incoming earnings season.
At 0748 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was up 0.8 percent at 823.44 points, bouncing back from a 10-week low on Wednesday.
Miners and steelmakers were among the biggest gainers, with Xstrata (XTA.L) up 1.5 percent, ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS) up 3.1 percent, BHP Billiton (BLT.L) up 2.5 percent and Anglo American (AAL.L) up 4.2 percent.
"There has been nothing reassuring in macro data lately, so people are really hoping for good surprises on the earnings front," said David Thebault, head of quantitative sales trading, at Global Equities, in Paris.
"We're still in a downward trend, with a lot of 'puts' from institutional investors, so if we don't get better-than-expected results and positive comments from companies, stocks are heading for another 10 percent drop."
Kicking off the much-awaited earnings season, U.S. aluminium major Alcoa Inc reported a third consecutive quarterly loss on Wednesday, but cost cuts helped the company beat estimates by a large margin.
Alcoa's CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said there were signs that weak demand for aluminium -- which has prompted production cuts and sinking metals prices in the last nine months -- might be easing.
Alcoa's shares traded in Frankfurt ALU.F were up 7.4 percent.
Around Europe, the UK's FTSE 100 index .FTSE gained 0.5 percent, Germany's DAX index .GDAXI rose 1.1 percent, and France's CAC 40 .FCHI added 0.6 percent.
German business software maker SAP (SAPG.DE) rose 3.7 percent, after Banc of America-Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to "buy" from "neutral". Continued...
