* Oil majors boost London's FTSE 100
* Umicore tumbles on grim outlook
* Banks slide ahead of earnings this week(Recasts throughout, updates to closing)
By Susan Mathew
April 23 (Reuters) - Energy stocks boosted by a steady surgein oil prices, and a higher open on Wall Street helped Europeanshares erase session losses and close higher on Tuesday, but asell-off in banks and auto stocks kept gains in check.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed up 0.23percent, touching August highs and extending gains to an eighthstraight session - its longest winning streak since October2017. It had fallen as much as 0.3 percent in the session.
Energy-heavy London's FTSE 100 led gains in theregion, up 0.9 percent at a more than six-month high, whileGermany's DAX and France's CAC40 rebounded toclose higher. Wall Street's rise on upbeat earnings bolsteredsentiment, helping them retrace losses.
Italy's MIB slipped nearly 0.3 percent, whileSpain's IBEX lost 0.6 percent as banks weighed ahead ofearnings.
The oil and gas sector hit a six-month high, up 2percent, with Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleumand Total, up between 1.8 percent and 2.6percent.
Oil prices hit their highest since November after Washingtonannounced all Iran sanction waivers would end by May, pressuringimporters to stop buying from Tehran.
Surging oil prices, however, took a toll on airline stocks.Air France, EasyJet plc, Lufthansaand Ryanair , all shed between 2 percent and 6 percent.
Getinge was the top performer on the STOXX 600after the Swedish medical technology company beat first quartersales estimates and said restructuring measures will boostprofit in the second half of the year.
Plane maker Airbus' shares hit an all-time highwith a management shake-up spreading to its space unit. RivalBoeing is set to report results on Wednesday, while otherauto manufacturers such as United Technologies andLockheed Martin reported solid profits.
Nestle was the biggest boost to the STOXX 600benchmark, up 1.4 percent. Credit Suisse raised the food group'sprice target by 5 Swiss francs.
Gains on the STOXX 600 were tempered, however, as earningsstarted to roll in on a not-so-positive note with Umicoretumbling over 17 percent, after the Belgian groupwarned revenue and earnings growth in 2020 will be lower thanprevious indications.
Umicore's slide weighed heavily on Belgium's blue chip Bel20 Index, pulling it 1.2 percent lower to post itsbiggest one-day drop in a month.
Banks and auto stocks weighed the most on the pan-regionindex.
The banking index broke a six-day winning run withmajor European banks as UBS, Credit Suisse andBarclays slated to report earnings late this weekfollowing last week's mixed bag of results from big Wall Streetbanks.
"Weakness in banks seems earnings related. It's symbolic ofthe kind of (growth) between Europe and the U.S. at the moment.Because we've seen the likes of record profits from J.P. Morgan,but nothing close in Europe," said Jasper Lawler, head ofresearch at LCG in London.
Banco Santander's, BBVA and BNP Paribaswere among the biggest drags on the STOXX 600.
Renault fell 1.4 percent after Nissan Motor Co Ltdsaid it would reject a management integration proposalfrom its French partner and called for an equal capitalrelationship, according to a Nikkei report.
Ahold Delhaize slid after the Dutch supermarketwarned that a strike at its Stop & Shop chain in U.S. would hurtits underlying 2019 profit margin, as it missed out on around$200 million on Easter week sales.
Car part suppliers Plastic Omnium and Faureciaalso reported first-quarter results. Plastic Omniumslid after warning of a decline in worldwide auto production,but Faurecia rose 1.5 percent after the company met itsfull-year target.(Reporting by Agamoni Ghosh and Medha Singh and Susan Mathew inBenagluru, Editing by William Maclean and Ed Osmond)
