Randstad and United Internet help European shares to gain

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LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - European shares climbed higher in early trading on Tuesday, with encouraging updates from companies such as the world's second-biggest staffing company Randstad and Germany's United Internet (Other OTC: UDIRF - news) helping the market.

Randstad shares rose 7.5 percent, the top gainer in the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, after the company said sales had accelerated since it reported third-quarter results and that it expected higher margins in 2016.

United Internet was up more than 4 percent after reporting a rise in third-quarter core profit and revenues as the number of subscribers continued to rise.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 1.5 percent at 1,481.90 points by 0812 GMT after closing 0.2 percent higher in the previous session. French shares were up 1.2 percent, after falling 0.1 percent on Monday following Friday's attacks in Paris that killed more than 120 people.

European stocks dealing in the defence and military sectors also rose, as France launched new strikes on targets in Syria. BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) rose 1.2 percent, Airbus advanced 1.9 percent and Meggitt (Other OTC: MEGGF - news) progressed 1.3 percent.

The broader market was also helped by a weakness in the euro against the dollar on growing expectations that the U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . Federal Reserve is poised to hike interest rates next month. A weaker euro tends to help export-oriented European exporters. (Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)