LONDON(Reuters) - European shares hit their highest closing levels in six years on Thursday, driven by upbeat results from companies including Royal Dutch Shell and AXA, but ended below intra-day highs.The UK’s FTSE 100 index outperformed major national indexes to close 1.3 percent stronger on gains in index heavyweights oil companies, banks and miners.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index ended 1.0 percent higher at 1,530.1, taking the year’s gains so far to more than 3 percent, following last year’s 16 percent rise. However, the index ended below an intra-day high of 1,535.6.

None of the shares in the UK’s FTSE 100 index fell on Thursday. The index was propelled higher by a 1.9 percent gain in Royal Dutch Shell as the Anglo-Dutch group reported a forecast-beating record annual profit.

Strategists said the outlook for equities remains healthy, but the time might be right to curb risk exposure.

Across Europe, Paris’s CAC 40 index rose nearly one percent, Frankfurt’s DAX and Zurich’s SMI both gained 0.9 percent.

Among the days’ main movers, AstraZeneca gained 2.2 percent as the pharmaceuticals firm announced plans to cut 4.6 percent of its global workforce and met earnings forecasts for 2006.

Shares in Europe’s second-biggest insurer AXA advanced 2.6 percent after the company reported a nearly 10 percent rise in 2006 sales as robust market conditions spurred higher sales of products throughout the sector.