Miners get China boost, lead European stocks higher

LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) - European shares rose to their highest level in more than a week on Friday as better than expected Chinese growth data propelled gains in mining stocks and helped offset worries over the euro zone debt crisis.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index provisionally closed up 1.2 percent at 1,041.36 points, its highest closing level since ending at 1,044.47 points on July 5.

The Euro STOXX 50 index rose 1.1 percent to 2,252.67 points, while the STOXX European basic resources index , which includes mining groups, climbed 2.9 percent.

Richard Robinson, a European equities fund manager at British firm Ashburton, said he had recently added mining stocks to his portfolio as he felt authorities around the world would introduce new stimulus measures to boost the global economy.

"We have committed some more cash to the markets. We put it into the mining and metals sector as we believe that some of the news flow over the next few weeks will be about stimulus," he added. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Simon Jessop)