European shares inch higher ahead of ZEW

* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.4 pct, Euro STOXX 50 up 0.5 pct

* Altice falls after private equity firms sell stake

* ZEW seen reversing 10 straight months of declines

By Blaise Robinson

PARIS, Nov 18 (Reuters) - European stocks rose adding to the previous session's rally on Tuesday after comments from ECB President Mario Draghi that were seen as raising the prospect of further stimulus steps.

Investors were also betting on Germany's ZEW survey for November, due at 1000 GMT, to start showing some signs of a stabilisation and reverse 10 straight months of declines.

Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) in European cable and telecoms company Altice bucked the trend, falling 3.8 percent after private equity firms Carlyle and Cinven sold 7.5 million shares via an accelerated bookbuild.

At 0855 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.4 percent at 1,357.38 points, with Germany's DAX up 0.7 percent.

"Overall, sentiment has improved after Draghi's comments yesterday, which were quite dovish even though he didn't unveil anything new. The European market is clearly driven by the ECB, and the fact that Draghi reaffirms the bank's determination to support the economy is positive," said Alexandre Baradez, chief market analyst at IG France.

Draghi said on Monday the ECB stimulus is gaining traction but reiterated the central bank's readiness to do more if necessary.

Around Europe, UK's FTSE 100 index was up 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 up 0.3 percent, Italy's MIB up 0.5 percent, and the euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index up 0.5 percent.

Shares in British infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (Other OTC: BAFBF - news) rose 5.3 percent after reaffirming its profit outlook for the full year, and saying it had made progress towards addressing the management issues around its UK construction business.

Shares in big pharmaceutical groups featured among the top blue-chip gainers, with Novartis (Xetra: 904278 - news) up 1 percent and Roche up 0.6 percent, boosted by renewed M&A activity in the sector.

On Monday, U.S. firm Allergan Inc (NYSE: AGN - news) accepted a $66 billion takeover bid from Actavis Plc (NYSE: ACT - news) .

Europe bourses in 2014: http://link.reuters.com/pap87v

Asset performance in 2014: http://link.reuters.com/gap87v

Today's European research round-up

(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)