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By Medha Singh
April 16 (Reuters) - European shares gained for the fifthday on Tuesday, bolstered by bank and retails stocks while dataout of China added to hopes of stabilization in the world'ssecond-largest economy.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 0.2 percentby 0928 GMT led by Germany's DAX 0.6 percent rise whileSpanish and Italian bourses were flat tomodestly lower.
Also encouraging investors was a ZEW survey showing the moodamong German investors improved in April, as the growth outlookfor Europe's largest economy brightened amid a resilient globaleconomy and a delay to Britain's departure from the EU.
Zalando jumped more than 10 percent, making it thetop performer on the STOXX and pushing the retail sector0.7 percent higher after the e-commerce company said it expectedto post an operating profit for the first quarter.
Another major boost to STOXX 600 were banks, thebest performing sector this month after auto stocks.
Big Wall street banks Goldman Sachs and Citigroupreported disappointing revenue estimates on Monday,sending their shares lower. Still, both lenders beat quarterlyprofit estimates.
"We saw a sort of a selloff in Wall Street giants GoldmanSachs and Citigroup but if you look at the earnings, you canclearly see the earnings were really really strong," said NaeemAslam, chief market analyst at TF Global Markets (UK) Ltd inLondon.
"This optimism is really feeding into the European bankingsector as well. When they will start to announce their earnings,the expectations are high that we are going to see some goodnumbers coming out of the European banks after a long time."
Italy's top bank, UniCredit SpA, gained after itand two subsidiaries agreed to pay $1.3 billion to U.S.authorities to settle investigations of violations of U.S.sanctions on Iran and other countries.
Steel pipe maker Tenaris also led gains on thepan-region index after an Argentine court reversed a decisionagainst the company's chief executive and chairman.
Security company G4S gained after it reported a 4.8percent rise in first-quarter revenue and said it had made goodprogress in a review to separate its cash business.
Italian utility Ascopiave rose after A2Aand other utilities made a joint non-binding bid for its assets.
Lufthansa reversed early losses to edge up 0.4percent. Germany's biggest airline posted a loss in thefirst-quarter hurt by rising fuel costs and overcapacity inEurope.
Hays Plc tumbled 4 percent as the British recruitermissed expectations for quarterly net fee growth below due toweakness in its biggest market, Germany.
Oil stocks including BP, Total and RoyalDutch Shell were the biggest weights on the STOXX 600,tracking declining crude prices.
Investors breathed a sigh of relief last week after centralbanks in the United States and Europe maintained their dovishstance and Britain lawmakers got an extension on their country'sexit from the European Union.
Signs that Sino-China trade talks are in their final stageshave aided the recent buoyant mood. Closer to home, the EuropeanTrade Commissioner said late Monday that the European Union isready to start talks on a trade agreement with the United Statesand aims to conclude a deal before the end of the year.
The index of STOXX 50 volatility, the main gauge ofmarket anxiety in Europe, fell for the sixth day to touch itslowest since mid-January 2018.(Reporting by Medha Singh and Susan Mathew in BengaluruEditing by Andrew Heavens)
