UPDATE 2-Positive trade sentiment nudges European stocks higher

* China says top trade negotiators hold phone call

* London's Compass Group tumbles after results

* French car parts maker Faurecia rises on strong forecast

* STOXX 600 rises for the third straight session (Updates to close)

By Medha Singh

Nov 26 (Reuters) - European stocks rose for the third straight session on Tuesday, lifted by hopes that the ongoing negotiations between United States and China would yield a trade truce.

Swiss drugmaker Vifor Pharma VIFN.S was the top performer on the pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX after the company announced the success of avacopan as a treatment for a autoimmune disease in a trial.

Irish shares of CRH CRH.I CRH.L rose nearly 3% after the building materials supplier posted a rise in quarterly profit on a like-for-like basis helped by strong demand and pricing which it expects to continue in 2020. shares helped the construction & materials subsector .SXOP gain nearly 1%.

After a sluggish start, the STOXX 600 .STOXX index gradually crept up 0.1% as major U.S. stock indexes .SPX .IXIC .DJI notched record highs.

Trade negotiators from China and the United States discussed issues related to phase one of a trade agreement on Tuesday and agreed to maintain communication on remaining issues, China's Commerce Ministry said. House adviser Kellyanne Conway said both countries are close to agreement on the initial deal but three big sticking points remain. relations continue to drive markets," said Joshua Mahony, Senior Market Analyst at IG. "A call between the U.S. and China provided a renewed focus on getting that first stage deal across the line."

Hopes that the world's top two economies would hammer out a deal to end their trade war, along with a better-than-feared third-quarter earnings, has helped the benchmark STOXX 600 rise about 3% so far in November, its third straight monthly climb.

Among major country indexes, Italy .FTMIB was leading gains with its 0.4% rise while those in Britain .FTSE and Spain .IBEX posted modest gains.

UK's midcaps index .FTMC outperformed with its 0.8% jump, boosted by a surge in shares of Pets at Home Group Plc PETSP.L after the company forecast full-year underlying pretax profit towards the top end of current market view. of French car parts maker Faurecia EPED.PA rose 2% as it said it was targeting record sales, profits and cash generation in 2022, partly helped by a boost from its acquisition of Japanese company Clarion. decliners, Compass Group CPG.L tumbled more than 7% as the world's biggest catering firm warned that hundreds of jobs could be in jeopardy as a part of a program to stem costs, as the weakening economic outlook in Europe dented its volumes and margins.