LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - European banks surged on Friday, rising to a one-month high, gaining support from U.S. lenders, which reported better-than-expected results in the first quarter.
The STOXX 600 index of European banks (.SX7P) gained as much as 3% to reach its highest since mid-March after JPMorgan (JPM.N), Citigroup (C.N) and Wells Fargo WFC.N beat estimates.
Banks largely outperformed the broader market, with the STOXX 600 (.STOXX) index climbing 0.6% as risk assets gained support from expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve may soon finish raising interest rates.
Germany's Commerzbank (CBKG.DE) and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) rose 5% and 4.2%. Societe Generale (SOGN.PA), UBS (UBSG.S), Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) and BPER Banca (EMII.MI) rose between 2% and 4%.
In London, Standard Chartered (STAN.L) shares rose 4.3% to three-week highs, Barclays (BARC.L) shares were up 3%, touching a five-week high, while HSBC (HSBA.L) shares up 3.1% to one month highs.
(This story has been refiled to fix a typo in paragraph 1)