Miners, earnings support European shares; French stocks under pressure ahead of election

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - European shares advanced in early deals on Friday, though France's benchmark CAC 40 declined slightly ahead of the first round of voting in the French presidential election.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.1 percent, on track to mark its third session of straight gains, while France's CAC fell 0.4 percent.

French food group Danone (LSE: 0KFX.L - news) was the biggest faller on the CAC 40, down 2.4 percent after reporting first-quarter sales figures, which rose 0.7 percent, a sharp slowdown from 2.1 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2016.

French banks extended the previous session's gains, with Societe Generale (Swiss: 519928.SW - news) , BNP Paribas (LSE: 0HB5.L - news) and Credit Agricole trading 0.2 percent to 1.2 percent higher.

A rally in basic resources stocks underpinned broader gains, as the sector rose 1.9 percent on the back of supportive metals prices.

Earnings and deal-making drove the action at the single-stock level, with Germany's Software AG (IOB: 0NJS.IL - news) climbing 4.6 percent to the top of the STOXX 600 after reporting first-quarter results. The software business maker's quarterly core profit declined less than expected.

Engineering firm WS Atkins (Frankfurt: 912859 - news) gained 4 percent after Canada's SNC (Shenzhen: 002246.SZ - news) -Lavalin Group said it would buy the firm for C$3.6 billion ($2.67 billion), firming up an indicative offer it made earlier this month.

Domino's Pizza rose more than 3 percent after Peel Hunt raised its rating on the stock to "buy" from hold". (Reporting by Kit Rees, editing by Helen Reid)