(Adds detail on earnings, share movement, comment from CFO)

NEW YORK, July 31 (Reuters) - Automatic Data Processing Inc, ADP.N the world's largest payroll processing company, posted a higher-than-expected rise in earnings on Thursday, helped by rising payroll revenue from Europe.

ADP's shares rose 2.74 percent to close at $42.71 on Thursday, even as the broader market fell.

Net income for ADP's fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30 rose to $233.5 million, or 45 cents a share, from $194.7 million, or 35 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

Income from continuing operations rose to $226 million, or 43 cents a share, from $193.8 million, or 35 cents a share in the same quarter a year earlier.

Excluding a $16 million pretax gain from the sale of a building, ADP earned 42 cents, compared with analysts' average forecast of 41 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company said it forecast revenue growth of 7 percent to 8 percent for fiscal 2009, and diluted earnings per share growth of 10 percent to 14 percent.

The number of employees' on customers' payrolls are likely to be more or less unchanged in fiscal 2009, even as the job market shows signs of slowing, Chief Financial Officer Christopher Reidy told Reuters.

ADP should be able to continue to increase revenue because slowing economic growth often encourages companies to outsource their payroll processing to save money, Reidy said. (Reporting by Dan Wilchins, editing by Dave Zimmerman and Carol Bishopric)