LIVE MARKETS-Cars in reverse gear, tech shines, British retailers mixed

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters. You can share your thoughts with Thyagaraju Adinarayan (thyagaraju.adinarayan@tr.com), Joice Alves (joice.alves@tr.com), Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@tr.com) in London and Danilo Masoni (danilo.masoni@tr.com) in Milan.

CARS IN REVERSE GEAR, TECH SHINES, BRITISH RETAILERS MIXED (0750 GMT)

European stocks are seen opening sharply higher at record high levels, following gains in Asia and the United States overnight, as Chinese stimulus measures are helping investors keep up their risk appetite even as the country reported its 1000th death from coronavirus.

Stock futures are rising between 0.6% to 0.9% amid a downpour of corporate headlines.

Autos in focus after Daimler axes its dividend as 2019 profits more than halved, sending its shares 1% lower in premarket trade. French tyremaker Michelin meanwhile forecast slightly lower profits in 2020 even without the impact of the coronavirus crisis in China.

AMS, which supplies sensors to Apple iPhone, is seen rising 5% to 7% reported fourth-quarter revenues above its own forecast and the upbeat results are likely to boost shares of peers Dialog Semi, Infineon and STMicro among others.

In telcos, Deutsche Telekom is rising 3% in premarket trade after sources say that U.S. judge is expected to rule in favor of merger of Sprint, T-Mobile.

In the UK, retailer Ocado shares could rise between 1% and 2%, traders say, after it forecast 15%-20% revenue growth for 2020, offsetting worries about a 27% drop in 2019 earnings.

High street retailer JD Sports in the spotlight after Britain's competition watchdog said the company's takeover of rival Footasylum could leave shoppers worse off.

Other potential stock moves flagged by traders: Metro seen 2% higher after it reached a deal to sell its hypermarkets business; TUI seen up 1% to 2% as strong demand for holidays helps 2019 earnings, offsetting impact from 737 MAX groundings; Delivery Hero seen slightly lower on profit-taking after solid 2019 results.

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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RECORD HIGH OPEN FOR EUROPE? (0630 GMT)

European stocks seem to be gearing-up to test fresh record highs in a V-shaped rebound driven by central bank liquidity, even as China reported its 1000th death from coronavirus.

Financial spreadbetters IG expect London's FTSE to open 40 points higher at 7,487, Frankfurt's DAX to open 92 points higher at 13,586, and Paris' CAC to open 31 points higher at 6,046.

"One of the enormous dilemmas for investors is whether the impact of the coronavirus will be enough to derail the global economy and usher in another round of Fed + easing," AxiCorp's chief market strategist Stephen Innes says.

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

***** (Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Joice Alves, Julien Ponthus and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)