European markets rise on strong banks, corporate earnings

Generic drugmaker Stada rallied 10% percent to 16.89 euros after the company reported first quarter profit above analysts' expectations and said earnings may rise this year.

On the other hand, French bank Natixis tumbled 13.6% after the company posted a first quarter loss of ?1.84 billion, hurt by new asset writedowns and a surge in bad-loan provisions.

BT Group, Britain's largest phone company, dropped 6.4% after the company reported a fourth quarter loss of �977 million and cut its final dividend by 89% to 1.1 pence a share.

Heavily weighted oil stocks lost ground after crude oil prices fell for the second day. BP, Europe's biggest oil company, fell 1.2%, while Royal/Dutch Shell, the second biggest, slipped 1.3% and Total, the third biggest, dropped 1.7%.

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