STOXX 600 index up 0.2
Bank shares rise 0.9
Deutsche Bank, Barclays up on earnings beat
Unilever up on Q1 sales beat

April 27 Reuters European shares rose on Thursday driven by a raft of positive earnings, with upbeat results from Deutsche Bank and Barclays overshadowing worries over the U.S. banking sector39;s health.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 index was up 0.2, led by automobile shares, rising 1.0.

Investor concerns over the health of the U.S. banking sector calmed on Thursday, as First Republic Bank recovered slightly in U.S. premarket trading after hitting a record low on Wednesday.

Earnings season in the U.S. is a meaningful driver. Some of the large tech names delivered betterthanexpected results, said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.

On the negative side, there is this ongoing question about U.S. regional banks and how that39;s going to be resolved. That seems to be weighing a little bit on sentiment towards financials globally.

European banking shares rose 0.9 led by Barclays Plc that climbed 4.3 on an estimatebeating quarterly profit, as a resilient performance from its consumer bank offset pressure on other key business lines.

Deutsche Bank AG also rose 2.2 following a betterthanexpected rise in firstquarter profit, as income from higher interest rates offset a slump in revenues at the investment bank.

Danish software firm SimCorp was the top gainer on STOXX 600, surging 38 after receiving a 3.9 billion euro 4.31 billion bid from…