European shares climb on Saint-Gobain, Elekta boost

(Reuters) - European shares opened higher on Friday, boosted by upbeat earnings reports from French construction materials giant Saint-Gobain and Swedish radiation therapy equipment Elekta.

The STOXX 600 index climbed 0.4% by 0811 GMT, keeping with a rise in Asian markets after the Bank of Japan ruling out an early end to super-easy monetary policy pushed bond yields lower globally.

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain gained 5.5%, pushing the European construction and materials index up 0.8% after it posted record annual revenue that exceeded analysts' expectations on strong growth in all its regions on Thursday.

Elekta jumped 7.7%, to the top of the STOXX 600 after positive third-quarter earnings.

German chemicals giant BASF SE fell 3.7% as it flagged a decline in annual earnings and said it plans to cut 2,600 jobs and halt buybacks.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)