April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index erased its loss for the year with a record monthly rally as earnings from BASF SE and BG Group Plc beat estimates and speculation grew that the worst of the global recession is over.

BASF, the world’s biggest chemical company, rallied 7.4 percent and BG Group, the U.K.’s third-largest natural-gas producer, increased for a second day. British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc rose 4.7 percent as the Britain’s biggest pay- television provider said operating profit and sales climbed.

The Stoxx 600 added 1.5 percent to 200.23. Europe’s regional benchmark has climbed 13 percent in April, the biggest monthly gain since data for the index started in 1987, as companies including Siemens AG and Eni SpA reported better-than- expected earnings and investors speculated U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s plan to purchase illiquid assets from banks will pull the global economy out of its recession.

“All the things are in place for the bear market to have ended,” Anthony Bolton, president of investments at Fidelity International, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. “When there’s a strong consensus, a very negative one, and cash positions are very high, as they are at the moment, I’d like to bet against that.”

Fidelity International is the London-based affiliate of Fidelity Investments, the world’s largest mutual-fund company. Bolton’s Special Situations Fund beat the FTSE All-Share Index on an annual basis by 6 percentage points from 1979 through 2007, according to Fidelity.

U.S. Stocks

Banks have led this month’s advance in Europe as Credit Suisse Group AG posted profit that was twice the median estimate of analysts and Barclays Plc indicated its first-quarter performance was “well ahead” of last year.

Barclays, the third-largest U.K. bank, rose 9.8 percent to 281.5 pence as Bolton said financial shares are set to rally. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, the biggest bank under British government control, jumped 14 percent to 41.8 pence.

Companies whose profits are most tied to the pace of economic growth such as producers of industrial goods and automakers have also climbed this month. Siemens, Europe’s largest engineering company, reported a bigger-than-estimated jump in earnings after accelerating a cost-cutting program and tapping demand for transformers, turbines and medical scanners.

Germany’s government forecast this week that Europe’s largest economy will return to growth next year. Retail sales in Europe declined the least in 11 months in April, helped by improved consumer confidence from government stimulus packages, the Bloomberg purchasing managers index showed yesterday.

National Benchmarks

National benchmark indexes rose in all 18 western European markets except Sweden. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 rallied 1.3 percent, while France’s CAC 40 added 1.4 percent. Sweden’s OMX Stockholm 30 Index was dragged lower as profit at Ericsson AB fell for a seventh straight quarter.

BASF surged 7.4 percent to 28.57 euros after it reported first-quarter net income of 375 million euros ($498.8 million), beating the 124 million-euro average estimate of analysts.

BG Group climbed 1.5 percent to 1,093 pence as the U.K.’s third-largest natural-gas producer reported earnings excluding inventory changes and one-time items that beat analysts’ estimates.

BSkyB added 4.7 percent to 486.75 pence. Earnings before interest, taxes and exceptional items in the three months ended March 31 climbed 16 percent to 311 million pounds ($461 million) on added subscribers and demand for high-definition television programs.

Wacker Chemie Climbs

Wacker Chemie AG jumped 19 percent to 78.38 euros, the most since its 2006 initial public offering. The German maker of chemicals and silicon wafers used in microchips said sales doubled at its polysilicon unit, which supplies the solar-power industry.

More than half of 131 companies in the Stoxx 600 that have reported earnings results since April 7 exceeded analysts’ predictions, compared with 43 percent in the previous quarter, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That still trails the 66 percent of companies in the S&P 500 that beat estimates.

DSG International Plc gained 15 percent to 43 pence as the U.K.’s largest consumer electronics-retailer announced plans to raise 310.6 million pounds selling new shares. The company also renegotiated its bank debt as it seeks to speed up store redevelopment plans.

Invensys Plc increased 11 percent to 199.6 pence, the highest since October. The U.K. maker of controls that help run Whirlpool Corp. washing machines was upgraded to “equal weight” from “underweight” at Morgan Stanley.

Ericsson slumped 8 percent to 71 kronor as the world’s largest maker of mobile-phone networks said first-quarter net income fell to 1.72 billion kronor ($210 million).

The Stoxx 600 fell 20 percent from the start of 2009 to a 12-year low of 157.97 on March 9, as global losses tied to subprime mortgages at financial firms climbed toward $1.3 trillion and Europe, the U.S. and Japan sank deeper into their first simultaneous recessions since World War II.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 30, 2009 12:25 EDT