* Lufthansa benefited from consolidation of recent purchases
* Nov passenger numbers up 24.3 percent, load factor narrows
* Cargo load factor widens on recovering demand in Asia
* Shares rise 0.8 percent
(Adds details, background)
FRANKFURT, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa reported a 14.9 percent rise in passenger traffic for November, helped by a slew of acquisitions last year, while cargo demand contined to improve.
The number of passengers the German flagship carrier transported in November jumped by 24.3 percent to 6.78 million at stable overall capacity, Lufthansa said on Wednesday.
The airline, which has been battling Air France-KLM for the No.1 spot in Europe, last year agreed to buy smaller rivals including Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines (AUA) and Britain's bmi.
The company racked up a bill of more than 1 billion euros ($1.48 billion) for the acquisitions, leading European M&A in the sector in the downturn to take advantage of cheaper purchase prices while rivals were holding off on major deals.
The global airline sector has been hit by reduced spending on travel, a drop in global trade and rising oil prices. Industry body IATA has said it expects the world's airlines to lose $11 billion this year.
IATA has said passenger demand improved in October but was still 5 percent below the peak reached in early 2008. Freight demand, meanwhile, continued to fall, indicating the global economic recovery remained fragile.
The Lufthansa group's load factor -- the percentage of available seats filled -- eased 0.9 percentage point in November versus a year earlier.
Rival Air France-KLM had reported on Tuesday that its November passenger traffic fell 3.2 percent, while a "more dynamic" cargo sector underscored signs of a fragile economic recovery.
Lufthansa echoed Air France-KLM's optimism, saying it filled 4.9 percentage points more of its cargo space on the back of recovering demand in Asia.
Data showed on Wednesday that air cargo throughput via Hong Kong rose 18.8 percent in November, rising for a second straight month and signalling that global trade flows are continuously picking up.
Airlines peer Icelandair is due to report November traffic figures later on Wednesday. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan, Editing by Michael Shields)