L'Oreal shares surge after posting higher third-quarter sales

PARIS (Reuters) - L'Oreal's shares rose sharply on Wednesday after the cosmetics and fashion group reported higher third-quarter sales, with turnover driven by booming demand in Asia.

L'Oreal shares were up 5.3 percent in early session trading.

Late on Tuesday, L'Oreal posted revenues of 6.47 billion euros ($7.3 billion), up 6.2 percent from a year earlier and rising 7.5 percent on a like-for-like (LFL) basis, which strips out currency swings and the effect of acquisitions.

"Outstanding Q3 LFL top-line growth was ahead of the elevated levels of H1 and consensus expectations," wrote Bernstein analyst Andrew Wood in a note.

"L'Oreal's stock has been lacklustre in recent weeks, giving up some year-to-date gains, as investors worried about slowing top-line momentum, but the strong Q3 should drive a good, positive stock reaction," he added.

($1 = 0.8810 euros)

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Inti Landauro)