** Shares in Hexagon HEXAb.ST rise 4% after the Swedish industrial technology group reported a smaller-than-expected drop in fourth-quarter operating earnings
** The group's adjusted operating earnings fell to 420.3 million euros ($501.0 million) in Q4, beating the average estimate of 404.4 million euros from 10 analysts polled by LSEG
** "Despite profitability being impacted by FX, it also benefited from the new cost-saving programme, with operating margins landing ahead of expectations," J.P.Morgan says
** JPM notes that divisionally the beat was driven by Autonomous Solutions (AS) performance
** The stock is among the best performers on STOXX 600 .STOXX index
(Reporting by Izabela Niemiec)
((izabela.niemiec@thomsonreuters.com))