Air France-KLM rallies in Paris; upgrades lift Axa, TomTom shares LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares rose for a seventh straight session Friday, with banks and miners retaining leadership of the rally but with other sectors also joining in as stocks moved back to fresh 2009 highs. After a modest rise on Thursday, the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP 242.06, +1.59, +0.66%) climbed 0.7% to 242.09, just off a high for the year of 242.48 hit earlier in Friday's session. Every Stoxx 600 sector traded in the green. "Many factors are underpinning the market's advance: economic recovery is gaining strength, meaning that we may see revenue growth return in the next earnings season; long-term interest rates remain low and financial conditions overall are improving by the day," said Rossa White at brokerage Davy Securities. At the regional level, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,024, +36.31, +0.73%) rose 0.8% to 5,024.85, the French CAC-40 (FR:PX1 3,738, +31.84, +0.86%) index added 0.7% to 3,731.29 and the German DAX index (DX:DAX 5,629, +33.92, +0.61%) gained 0.6% to 5,626.09. Asian markets were mostly higher to close out the week, while stock-index futures were pointing to a flat start on Wall Street after U.S. stocks rallied broadly to close at 2009 highs on Thursday. See Asia Markets. At the forefront of the market's rally since March, banks and miners were once more the strongest Stoxx 600 sector performers on Friday. Standouts included Commerzbank (DE:CBK 8.47, -0.08, -0.88%) , shares of which rose 3.9% to build on sharp gains made earlier in the week when the German institution said that it will repay state aid, and Spain's Banco Santander (ES:SAN 10.73, +0.21, +1.95%) (STD 15.55, -0.04, -0.26%) , up 1.9% as Morgan Stanley raised its rating to overweight from equal-weight. The broker thinks Santander can start growing earnings again as soon as 2010, and highlighted the company's valuation multiple of eight times estimated earnings for 2011. Also on the move, shares of copper miner Antofagasta (UK:ANTO 743.00, +9.25, +1.26%) rose 1.4% and Randgold Resources (UK:RRS 4,307, +60.00, +1.41%) advanced 1.4% as gold futures moved back over $1,000 an ounce in electronic trading. Commodity prices usually benefit from a weaker dollar as they are priced in dollars. The greenback hit fresh lows on Friday after a raft of positive economic data from China added to the growing sense of a worldwide recovery. 'Companies need to deliver' At a broader level, European equity strategists at Citigroup said that they believe market leadership could now broaden out. "This typically occurs three months after the market has troughed," they said. "Company fundamentals tend to re-assert themselves. Companies need to deliver to enjoy the best share price gains," they added. One company that could be on the verge of restructuring is Air France-KLM (FR:AF 11.46, +0.68, +6.25%) , shares of which traded up 6.9% in Paris. The carrier plans to restructure its cargo unit, according to reports. Also Friday, broker moves prompted some share-price reaction across a range of sectors. Shares of Axa (FR:CS 17.17, +0.55, +3.28%) (AXA 24.47, +0.65, +2.73%) jumped 3.3% after the insurance firm was upgraded to buy from neutral by Merrill Lynch, which said it's focusing its sector stance more toward the life segment and away from property and casualty insurers. "We see Axa as a sound way of achieving that," said Merrill analysts in a note to investors. Merrill also upgraded shares of Old Mutual (UK:OML 93.80, +0.60, +0.64%) , up 0.9%, to neutral from underperform but cut Swiss Re (CH:RUKN 47.84, -0.68, -1.40%) , down 2.4%, to neutral from buy. A big mover, shares of TomTom (NL:TOM2 13.35, +1.02, +8.23%) soared 10.1% as Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating to buy from neutral and and added the Dutch satellite-navigation device maker to its conviction buy list. The broker said TomTom's current valuation still "understates the likely potential" for the company's auto OEM opportunity.

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