European shares gain as Carrefour jumps

LONDON, Apr 13 (Reuters) European stocks gained on Thursday as Carrefour rose on upbeat sales figures but the session is expected to be subdued ahead of the Easter break.

The world's second-largest retailer jumped 4 percent after posting an 8.3 percent rise in first-quarter sales as it expanded market share and beat expectations at its suburban hypermarkets.

''A better-than-expected performance in France, despite astill soft environment, is good news,'' ING analysts said in a note as the bank raised its rating to ''buy'' from ''hold''.

Ericsson added 1.7 percent after mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson, owned by the Swedish firm and Japan's Sony Corp., posted first-quarter pretax earnings well above market expectations and was upbeat on its prospects.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares added 0.3 percent to 1,368.81 points.

The benchmark added 7.5 percent in the first quarter to hit a near five-year high thanks to a raft of takeover stories but the index closed down in the last two sessions on worries over the high oil price's effect on corporate profit growth.

However, US light crude fell back from a barrel after US supplies swelled to their highest in almost eight years.

Oil stocks such as BP weakened slightly while shares in carmaker DaimlerChrysler slipped 2.6 percent as they traded ex-dividend.

Eyes will be on US retail sales data and the University of Michigan consumer confidence survey later.

Several markets in Scandanavia are already closed for the Easter holiday.

REUTERS SBJ ND1304