European shares hit 3-month high on positive company updates

(ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development. See the bottom of the report for more details)Updates prices)

* FTSEurofirst 300 index rises 1.2 pct

* L'Oreal gains after positive update

* Miners hit highest since November

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - European equities climbed to a three-month high on Tuesday, with a rally in commodities-related stocks and encouraging updates from companies such as French cosmetics firm L'Oreal and advertising group Publicis (Paris: FR0000130577 - news) .

L'Oreal rose 4.7 percent as it pledged to outperform the market in 2016 and confirmed its ambition to achieve another year of sales and profit growth after first-quarter sales rose more than expected.

At 1048 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 1.2 percent at 1,371.1 points after touching 1,374.88, its highest level since early January.

The European basic resources index rose 2 percent to its highest since November, with sentiment improving after Rio Tinto reported an 11 percent rise in first quarter iron ore shipments.

There was also a slew of supportive economic signals from China, the world's top metals consumer.

"The most recent PMI data from China has reversed the negative trend. The possibility that China is stabilising is reassuring markets after a torrid first couple of months at the beginning of the year," Lorne Baring, managing director at B Capital Wealth Management in Geneva, said.

China's leaders now sound more confident that the world's second-largest economy has arrested a slide in growth to quarter-century lows.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) , Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) and Rio Tinto rose 1.0 to 2.5 percent.

The oil and gas index also advanced, up 0.7 percent, after oil prices rose as a strike in Kuwait cut huge amounts of crude out of the supply chain.

Swedish investment firm Kinnevik rose 5.7 percent after the company proposed SEK 5 billion ($616.52 million)extraordinary cash distribution to shareholders.

Advertising group Publicis gained 4.2 percent after reporting higher first-quarter revenue, helped by accounts won at the end of last year and growth at digital business Sapient.

Today's European research round-up

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($1 = 8.1101 Swedish crowns) (Additional reporting by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Tom Heneghan and Raissa Kasolowsky)