(Fixes typo in first paragraph)
By Joice Alves
LONDON (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 gained as much as 3% to reach its highest since mid-March after JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) beat estimates.
Banks largely outperformed the broader market, with the STOXX 600 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 (ETR:CBKG) and Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn) rose 5% and 4.2%. Societe Generale (OTC:SCGLY), UBS, Credit Suisse and BPER Banca rose between 2% and 4%.
In London, Standard Chartered (OTC:SCBFF) shares rose 4.3% to three-week highs, Barclays (LON:BARC) shares were up 3%, touching a five-week high, while HSBC shares up 3.1% to one month highs.
(This story has been refiled to fix a typo in paragraph 1)