European shares closed at their highest level in two weeks on Tuesday, helped by receding oil prices and pleasing results from drugs giant Sanofi-Aventis and tobacco firm BAT. The FTSEurofirst 300 index ended 0.8 percent higher at 1,100.33 points, fleshing out its gains for the year to 5.6 percent. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index added 0.7 percent to 3,078.4 points. A dour outlook from Dutch telecoms company KPN and a profit warning from health and beauty retailer Boots had limited impact on the market, while data showing slower-than-expected U.S. factory output helped soothe concern about sharp monetary tightening in the world's biggest economy. The Institute for Supply Management's index of U.S. manufacturing activity slipped to 55.3 in February from 56.4 in January, missing forecasts from Wall Street economists for a rise of the index to 57.0 last month. "Traders once again erred towards a more lenient approach to monetary policy by the FOMC (Federal Reserve Open Market Committee) in the coming weeks," said Paul Webb, a trader at CMC Group. --More 2220 Local Time 1920 GMT
