* Insurers among top sectoral gainers
* Rio Tinto drags down miners
* UK GDP grew 1% in June
* Adidas up on selling Reebok for $2.5 bln
(Adds comments, details; Updates prices throughout)
By Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal
Aug 12 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Thursday, hitting
yet another record high, as strong earnings from insurers and
M&A activity in the UK helped offset a fall in mining stocks.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index inched up 0.1%,
extending gains to a ninth consecutive session.
British insurer Aviva rose 3.5% after saying it would
return at least 4 billion pounds ($5.5 billion) to shareholders,
while Zurich Insurance Group added 3.8% on reporting a
60% jump in first-half business operating profit.
Dutch insurer Aegon NV jumped 7.3% after posting
much better than expected second-quarter earnings.
Deutsche Telekom rose 2.8% after raising its
profit outlook for the second time this year.
The benchmark STOXX 600 clocked its longest winning streak
since June, as earnings reports and optimism related to the pace
of vaccination across Europe reinforced investor confidence in
an economic recovery.
Data showed Britain's economy grew by a faster than expected
1% in June, after many hospitality firms restarted indoor
service in mid-May and as more people visited doctors following
the pandemic, lifting healthcare.
Factory output fell in June in the euro zone, as Germany,
the bloc's industrial powerhouse, faltered amid supply
bottlenecks, European Union estimates showed.
"The second successive monthly fall in euro-zone industrial
production in June was largely due to ongoing supply-chain
difficulties in Germany," said Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe
economist at Capital Economics.
"As these will ease only slowly, we don't expect industry to
contribute much to economic growth in the coming months, even
though demand is still red hot," Kenningham added.
Cineworld Group rose 3.9% after it said it was
considering a listing of itself or a partial listing of its
movie chain Regal on Wall Street.
Meanwhile, Adidas rose 1.6% after selling its
Reebok brand to Authentic Brands Groups for up to 2.1 billion
euros ($2.5 billion), as the German sporting goods company
sought to draw a line under an ill-fated investment.
Stock Spirits Group soared 43.7% funds as funds
affiliated with private-equity firm CVC agreed to take over the
London-listed vodka maker in a deal valuing it at 767 million
pounds ($1.1 billion).
Dragging down miners, UK-listed shares of global miner Rio
Tinto slipped 5.5% on trading ex-dividend.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru
Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and David Holmes)
