European shares rise as energy and mining stocks climb

LONDON (Reuters) - European stock markets rose on Tuesday, helped by stronger energy stocks which gained ground as oil prices surged on the possibility of output cuts.

Mining stocks also advanced, lifted by a rally in copper prices, while shares in Anglo American climbed more than 6 percent after the firm's underlying earnings did not fall as much as some had feared.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.7 percent, building on a 6 percent rise made over the last two sessions.

Shares in Vodafone slipped slightly after the British phone network operator agreed to combine operations in the Netherlands with Liberty Global , with Vodafone paying 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) in cash to Liberty.

 

However, shares in French telecoms group Orange rose 1.1 percent after Orange returned to core profit growth a year earlier than planned. Orange added it was still in talks to buy Bouygues Telecom .

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta)