* FTSEurofirst 300 index gains 1.7 percent
* Chipmakers boosted by U.S. peer Intel results
* Carmakers rise after positive earnings news
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By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - European shares gained on Wednesday, with technology stocks buoyed by strong results from U.S. chip maker Intel ahead of Nokia's earnings on Thursday.
By 1051 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 1.7 percent at 1,135.75 points, after rising 0.4 percent in the previous session.
Concerns about Standard & Poor's revising the United States credit outlook to negative on Monday and worries about the euro zone peripheral debt situation has prompted some weakness in stocks of late.
"There are still attractive opportunities, but market volatility remains, all the underlying issues at a structural and macro level are still unsolved business and that uncertainty is leading to oversensitivity," said Randeep Grewal, director of European equities at F&C Asset Management, which has 105 billion pounds ($171.6 billion) in assets under management.
"There is a push and pull between fear and the positive earnings that companies are delivering. Long-term we are bullish on Europe, we think there are a lot of positive opportunities."
Technology stocks were in demand, with European chipmakers boosted by forecast-beating revenue from U.S. bellwether Intel.
Dutch chip equipment maker ASML, French firm STMicroelectronics, British chip designer ARM Holdings, German group Infineon gained 4.1 to 7.1 percent.
Fund managers said the next focus would be on Nokia's results on Thursday, expected to show a 29 percent fall in earnings per share as the company loses market share to more expensive smartphones. "The European market will be focused on what Nokia does as that is considered a bellwether for a lot of European hardware and semiconductor names, there is considerable uncertainty about the company," Grewal said.
Carmakers also featured among the top performers following earnings news. PSA Peugeot Citroen rose 4.7 percent after quarterly revenue beat forecasts.
Fiat gained 4.3 percent after results.
Also helping the sector was a research note by Santander which said it expects a strong set of first-quarter numbers from Daimler and BMW, after both companies reported double-digit percentage volume growth year-on-year.
Daimler was up 4.2 percent and BMW rose 3.1 percent.
TECHNICALS POSITIVE
On the technical front, the picture looked positive. The euro zone's blue chip Euro STOXX 50 broke through a key resistance level at 2,887 points, which represents the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement of the index's rally from mid-March to April 7.
The index was up 2.1 percent at 2917.14 and the next resistance level is at 2927.44, which is the 23.6 percent retracement of the latest rally.
Meanwhile, Spain saw solid demand for its bonds, though talk surrounding Greek debt pushed Spanish benchmark bond yields to near euro lifetime highs and cast doubt on whether the country can avoid the same fate as its smaller, troubled members.
The Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index rose 2.4 percent.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was up 2 percent, Germany's DAX was 2.5 percent higher and France's CAC 40 gained 2.2 percent. (Editing by Louise Heavens) ($1=.6117 Pound)