*

Airbus falls to bottom of CAC 40 on weaker-than-feared Q1

*

Amundi surges after upbeat Q1 inflows

*

U.S. March PCE data awaited at 1230 GMT

*

STOXX 600 up 0.6%

(Updated at 0845 GMT)

By Johann M Cherian

April 26 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Friday and

looked set to end the week higher as investors cheered robust

results from tech giants in the United States, while

Thyssenkrupp was on course for its best day in 23 months on a

divesture announcement.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index started the

session with a 0.6% increase by 0845 GMT.

The technology sector drove most of the gains on the

top index as investors took comfort from upbeat quarterly

results from U.S. technology giants Microsoft ( MSFT ) and

Alphabet.

Thyssenkrupp surged 10.5% to the top of the main

index after the German firm said it will sell a 20% stake in its

steel business to the energy holding controlled by Czech

billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

On the earnings front, Amundi added 7% after

Europe's biggest fund manager posted strong first-quarter

inflows.

Offsetting the optimism, Airbus posted

weaker-than-expected first-quarter operating profit and

cashflow, sending shares of the planemaker down 2.3% to the

bottom of France's benchmark index.

Overall, LSEG analysts estimate first-quarter earnings to

decrease 12.1% from a year earlier, as of Tuesday.

The benchmark index was on course to mark a weekly gain

of 1.2%, snapping a three-week losing streak.

Much of the volatility during the week has been driven

by a mixed corporate earnings season, against the backdrop of

ebbing Middle East tensions.

"It feels like at the moment there is a whole lot of

opportunism and there is also an awful lot of portfolio

repositioning going on," said Danni Hewson, head of financial

analysis at AJ Bell.

Meanwhile, a study by the German Economic Institute (IW)

showed Germany's economic weakness is finally

taking a toll on the labour market

.

European Central Bankers have been closely monitoring

the labour market to determine the timing of interest rate cuts,

with most investors confident of one in June.

Hewson, however, added that interest rate uncertainties

still, loomed making it difficult to plot out any sort of

long-term strategy.

At the bottom of the STOXX, the world's biggest lights

maker Signify dropped 8.1% as its first-quarter

adjusted core profit came in lower than market expectations

, dented by soft China demand and bleak European

Professional segment performance.

Jeronimo Martins jumped 5.3% after the

Portuguese food retailer

reported a core profit beat,

driven by its Poland and Colombia business.

Later in the day, the U.S. March Personal Consumption

Expenditure data is due that could offer clues on the trajectory

of monetary policy out of the world's largest economy.