European shares closed higher

European stocks climbed to their highest level in almost six weeks, following the biggest weekly advance for the region’s equity benchmark in two months, as Chinese economic growth matched forecasts.

Stocks climbed as a report showed China’s gross domestic product expanded 7.5% in the second quarter from a year earlier. That equaled the median forecast and the government’s target rate for 2013. The economy expanded at a 7.7% pace in the first quarter, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.4% to 297.38 at the close of trading in London.

The gauge jumped 2.7 percent last week after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke backed sustained monetary stimulus for the world’s largest economy.

National benchmark indexes climbed in 13 of the 18 western-European markets today:

U.K. banks gained after Rightmove Plc doubled its forecast for the increase in British house prices this year.

RBS (RBS), which is owned by the state, jumped 5.1%. Lloyds Banking Group Plc, the nation’s biggest mortgage lender, added 2.5%, while Barclays Plc increased 1.2%.

Commerzbank AG rose 4.7% as the lender sold 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) of loans to Wells Fargo & Co. and Lone Star Funds.

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