LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) - European shares rose for a fifth straight day on Monday, with BP surging on reports it may sell assets, but with some traders cautious ahead of the start of second-quarter U.S. earnings season.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares rose 0.3 percent to a provisional close of 1,024.72 points.
"Earnings season is a risk. The weaker euro will help internationally-exposed European companies, but not U.S. companies like Caterpillar," said Heino Ruland, strategist at Ruland Research in Frankfurt. "So we could see a divergence."
BP surged 9.4 percent to its highest close in a month, boosted by reports of asset disposals to help pay for the oil major’s Gulf of Mexico spill and hopes for a new system to capture almost all the spewing oil.
Miners were a drag on the index after data showed a drop in Chinese copper imports for a third month in June, stoking fears of a demand shortfall, though the country’s overall exports rose 43.9 percent in June from a year earlier and imports were up 34.1 percent.
The STOXX Europe 600 basic resources index fell 1.8 percent, with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vedanta down between 1.4 and 2.2 percent.
