* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.1 percent; gains for sixth session
* Sentiment improves on earnings, Bernanke comments
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By Atul Prakash
LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - European shares were little changed on Thursday after hitting seven-week highs, and analysts said equities may advance in the near term on strong earnings and on hopes U.S. monetary policy will stay ultra loose.
Charts showed upside for European equities, while a 2.6 percent fall in the Euro STOXX 50 volatility index, one of Europe's main barometers of anxiety, suggested that the market was in a mood to buy riskier assets such as equities.
At 1145 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.1 percent at 1,149.78 points after rising up to 1,154.35 points, the highest since early March.
Insurers featured among the top gainers, with the sector index rising 0.9 percent, led higher by Standard Life. The insurer rose 3.2 percent after forecast-beating sales and saying it was confident costly investments in new products would drive future profit growth.
Sentiment improved after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signalled late on Wednesday that the U.S. central bank was in no rush to scale back its support for the economy. The Fed said it will complete the purchase of $600 billion in bonds in June to support the economy's recovery.
"Bernanke has given a clear signal the Fed is not about to tighten its very accommodative stance. But that's only part of the story. What's really a driver is that the earnings season is better than expected and that has given another impetus higher," said Klaus Wiener, chief economist at Generali Investments.
"We have a positive returns expectations for 2011 and that is going to play out well. Equities are not outright cheap, but are not expensive either. Valuations are no hurdle to see further gains in the equity market," said Wiener, whose company manages $465 billion worth of assets.
According to Thomson Reuters Datastream, the STOXX Europe 600 carries a one-year forward price-to-earnings of about 10.3, against a 10-year average of 13.5.
On the earnings front, of the 53 STOXX Europe 600 companies that have reported first quarter earnings so far, 57 percent have either beaten or met analysts' forecasts, data from Thomson Reuters StarMine showed.
Royal Dutch Shell rose 0.5 percent after posting a 22 percent rise in first-quarter profit, while Deutsche Bank rose 3.8 percent after beating forecasts.
Spain's benchmark index rose 1 percent. Thursday sees the deadline for Spanish savings banks to get definitive approval for plans to raise capital from the Bank of Spain.
TECHNICAL OUTLOOK
The Euro STOXX 50, the euro zone's blue chip index, was up 0.4 percent at 2,990.13 points. Charts indicated that the index was expected to post further gains.
Tom Pelc, head of technical strategy at RBS, said that the short-term outlook for equities was still constructive and the Euro STOXX index may rise up to 3,170 points -- the 50 percent retracement of a move since the 2007 peak to the 2009 trough.
"Around there, the market may struggle to push considerably higher, he said, but added that if the index managed to break the 3,170 level on a closing basis, then the next realistic target was a move towards 3,500.
Banking shares were broadly higher, with the STOXX Europe 600 Banks index gaining 0.1 percent and the sectors' trading volume rising more than any other sector.
On the downside, food and beverages shares were among the top decliners, with the sector index falling 1.2 percent and Unilever dropping 3.2 percent after the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group said the impact of higher commodity costs this year will be more than expected. (Additional reporting by Dominic Lau and Brian Gorman; Editing by Hans Peters)