Rally in miners helps European shares hit two-week high

* Pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index jumps 2.1 percent

* Mining companies top sectoral riser as metals rally

* Ryanair surges after raising full-year profit forecast

* GSK falls after drug disappoints in trials

By Atul Prakash and Alistair Smout

LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - European shares climbed for a third straight session to a two-week high on Wednesday, with miners tracking a sharp rally in metals prices on expectations that world's top metals consumer, China, would take further steps to boost its economy.

The market was also helped by a 5.7 percent jump in Ryanair after the airline hiked its annual profit forecast by 25 percent on strong summer fare growth. The European travel and leisure index rose 2.1 percent.

The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources index surged more than 4 percent, boosted by a rally of between 4.6 percent and 6.5 percent in shares of Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) , Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) , BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) and Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) .

"We have seen exaggerated moves in commodity prices during the recent sell-off and a bounce in metals prices have prompted investors to rush back to grab miners. People are now seeing value in beaten-down miners," Koen De Leus, senior economist at KBC in Brussels, said.

Copper prices, which fell more than 20 percent in four months until last week, hit a seven-week high on Wednesday. A total gain of more than 5 percent this week was triggered by mining giant Glencore's plan to suspend 400,000 tonnes of copper output from Africa.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 2.1 percent at 1,445.93 points by 1053 GMT. The benchmark index has jumped more than 10 percent since hitting an eight-month low late last month.

Markets came under pressure in August on concerns over China's growth, and the recent rally has come after Chinese authorities increased support and regulation of stock trading.

While the moves have brought stability to prices, equities and futures are trading so thinly that they are in danger of flat lining, analysts said.

GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC: GLAXF - news) was among a few stocks in negative territory on the FTSEurofirst 300 index. Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in the drugmaker fell 0.5 percent after GSK and its partner Theravance said their inhaled medicine Breo failed to prolong the lives of patients with chronic respiratory disease.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) left its estimates for GlaxoSmithKline (Amsterdam: GO8.AS - news) unchanged after the test results but said the failure was an "unexpected disappointment".

"From a purely financial perspective (especially relative to consensus) we see this as only a marginal disappointment ... (however) it raises deeper questions around GSK's overall R&D strategy and spend," Goldman analysts said in a note.

Europe bourses in 2015: http://link.reuters.com/pap87v

Asset performance in 2015: http://link.reuters.com/gap87v

Today's European research round-up (Editing by Louise Heavens)