LIVE MARKETS-Early morning headlines roundup

* European shares seen higher

* China's Xi speech soothes jitters over trade tensions

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters

stocks reporters and anchored today by Danilo Masoni. Reach him on Messenger to share your

thoughts on market moves: danilo.masoni.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

EARLY MORNING HEADLINES ROUNDUP (0548 GMT)

Bayer (IOB: 0P6S.IL - news) bid to buy Monsanto (Hamburg: 1132157.HM - news) wins U.S. DoJ approval- WSJ

Vuitton owner LVMH posts sales surge in boost to luxury sector

Insurer AXA to restructure Swiss unit, resulting in one-off H1 negative hit

Givaudan Q1 sales rise 5.4 pct, helped by new contracts

Telecom Italia (Amsterdam: TI6.AS - news) to take legal action over auditors' April AGM decision

Italian fund association will not present slate for Telecom Italia board vote

U.S. FDA restricts sale of Bayer's Essure birth control device

Danske Bank (LSE: 0NVC.L - news) 's head of Baltic Business Banking exits

ANALYSIS-Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) 's new CEO takes sober look at 'ugly' investment bank

L'Oreal picked as preferred bidder for stake in S.Korea's Nanda - Korea Economic Daily

Deutsche becomes Premier Oil (LSE: PMO.L - news) 's 3rd biggest shareholder at 5.2 pct

EU to explore counter-measures to U.S. aluminium tariffs-trade body

Allianz (Swiss: ALV-EUR.SW - news) makes $120 mln investment in African infrastructure - FT

France's EDF March nuclear power production up 4.1 percent

MEDIA-Santander is said to be seeking exit from Astaldi (LSE: 0DMQ.L - news) loan exposure- Bloomberg

Total Port Arthur refinery plans to restart gasoline unit by wkend -sources

UBS (LSE: 0QNR.L - news) suspends access to research data for some external providers

Britain's Drax could close coal plants ahead of 2025 deadline

(Danilo Masoni)

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MORNING CALL: EUROPE SEEN UP (0518 GMT)

European shares are expected to open higher today after stocks in Asia gained following a

speech from Chinese President Xi Jinping which helped soothe investor jitters over an escalating

U.S.-China trade row. The STOXX 600 eged up 0.1 percent in the previous session.

Xi, speaking at the Boao Forum for Asia, said that China will take measures to sharply widen

market access for foreign investors, raise the foreign ownership limit in the automobile sector

and protect intellectual property of foreign firms.

Financial spreadbetters expect London's FTSE to open 46 points higher at 7,240, Frankfurt's

DAX to open 109 points higher at 12,371 and Paris' CAC to open 47 points higher at 5,311.

Reports that the FBI raided the offices and home of U.S. President Donald Trump's personal

lawyer Michael Cohen reduced gains on Wall Street overnight, but Xi's speech pushed

US futures back higher in Asian trading.

(Danilo Masoni)

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