AkzoNobel : European shares tick higher as earnings roll in, Spain rebounds

LONDON (Reuters) - Spanish equities rebounded on Monday, reassured by weekend demonstrations for a unified Spain and a poll lead for parties opposed to Catalan independence.

Spain's IBEX <.IBEX> benchmark outperformed a 0.1-percent gain for the pan-European STOXX 600 index <.STOXX>, rising 2.4 percent led by Caixabank (>> CaixaBank) and Banco de Sabadell (>> Banco de Sabadell), which both jumped more than 4 percent.

Stephane Barbier de la Serre, strategist at Makor Capital Markets, told Reuters there was a clear sense among investors that the Catalan crisis would be resolved.

But he said Spanish shares had still some catching up to do with the broader European markets and that the "road to normalisation" would likely be bumpy and generate some volatility in the weeks to come.

Spain's Bankia (>> Bankia SA) gained 2.2 percent after reporting a smaller-than-expected drop in net profit and as the lender made progress in shrinking its bad loan portfolio.

European tech stocks joined a global tech rally on the back of solid earnings from U.S. stalwarts and on strong pre-orders for Apple's iPhone X.

European iPhone suppliers STMicro (>> STMicroelectronics), Dialog Semi (>> Dialog Semiconductor) and AMS (>> ams (Austria Mikro Systeme)) rose 2.3 percent, 5.6 percent and 4.8 percent respectively.

Rexel (>> Rexel) rose 1.3 percent and Kingfisher (>> Kingfisher) 2 percent, both on brokers' upgrades.

UK housebuilders Bellway (>> Bellway) and Berkeley (>> Berkeley) lost 1.1 percent and 1.4 percent respectively after Barclays downgraded both of them.

Still in London, shares in HSBC (>> HSBC Holdings) fell 1.5 percent despite reporting a five-fold jump in its quarterly profits as broker Investec maintained its sell rating on the stock.

More European banks are due to report later during the week, including BNP Paribas (>> BNP Paribas), Credit Suisse (>> Credit Suisse Group) and Societe Generale (>> Société Générale).

Glencore (>> Glencore) rose 0.8 percent after falling earlier in the session after a trading update and a report saying it would cancel its secondary listing in Hong Kong due to lack of interest from investors.

Dutch paints maker Akzo Nobel (>> AkzoNobel), under pressure after rejecting a lucrative takeover offer and two profit warnings, confirmed talks with smaller U.S. rival Axalta Coating Systems Ltd (>> Axalta Coating Systems Ltd) and rose 0.7 percent.

(Reporting by Julien Ponthus and Kit Rees; Editingg by Andrew Heavens)

By Julien Ponthus and Kit Rees

Stocks treated in this article : BNP Paribas, Société Générale, STMicroelectronics, AkzoNobel, Rexel, Banco de Sabadell, CaixaBank, Dialog Semiconductor, Berkeley, Glencore, Credit Suisse Group, Kingfisher, Bellway, HSBC Holdings, ams (Austria Mikro Systeme), Axalta Coating Systems Ltd, Bankia SA