LIVE MARKETS-European early morning headline round-up

* European stocks futures rise

* Wall St. ends higher, China stocks fall

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity

markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Kit. Reach her on

Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: kit.rees.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

EUROPEAN EARLY MORNING HEADLINE ROUND-UP (0743 GMT)

Comcast (Swiss: CMCSA.SW - news) offers $31 billion to buy pay-TV group Sky (Frankfurt: 893517 - news) , challenges Murdoch

BASF predicts profit gain on specialty chems rebound

Takeover target GKN (Frankfurt: 694194 - news) posts surge in annual profits

EU plans new tax for tech giants up to 5 pct of gross revenues

StanChart (HKSE: 2888-OL.HK - news) resumes dividend payout as 2017 profit soars

BRIEF-Telenor (LSE: 0G8C.L - news) announces commercial launch of WG2

France's Safran (LSE: 0IU8.L - news) 2017 profit beats forecasts, sees further growth

Peugeot (Other OTC: PUGOF - news) shareholder FFP (Euronext: FFP.NX - news) buys stake in Safran (Milan: SAF.MI - news)

Swiss Life (IOB: 0QMG.IL - news) 2017 net profit beats expectations

Spain's Bankia (Amsterdam: QU8.AS - news) to pay back 2.5 bln euros to shareholders over next 3 yrs

Seadrill (Hamburg: 2171269.HM - news) agrees restructuring with creditors - U.S. court papers

Ryanair cabin crews in Portugal set 3 one-day strikes around Easter

Luxottica (Milan: LUX.MI - news) sees steady growth ahead as Essilor deal closing nears

Philips (Amsterdam: PHIA.AS - news) reduces stake in Philips Lighting (Amsterdam: LIGHT.AS - news)

British power producer Drax beats on core earnings

Insurer Direct Line to pay special dividend

Provident Financial (Other OTC: FPLPF - news) to raise 331 mln stg; swings to FY loss

Car (HKSE: 0699-OL.HK - news) dealership Inchcape (Other OTC: IHCPF - news) 's profits soar but expects more challenging 2018

Jupiter FY pretax profit up 13 pct on asset boost

UK's Greggs (Stuttgart: 41G1.SG - news) profit rises on product range and store expansion

British chemicals firm Croda posts 11 pct rise in 2017 profit

BRIEF-Meggit says underlying full-year pretax profit 357.9 mln stg

Fresnillo (Frankfurt: A0MVZE - news) results

(Tom Pfeiffer)

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EUROPEAN STOCKS FUTURES OPEN HIGHER (0714 GMT)

We might be looking at the third session of gains in a row here.

Here's your snapshot:

(Kit Rees)

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EARNINGS WATCHLIST: LOOKING QUIET (0653 GMT)

The bulk of the European earnings season may be over now, but we've still got a few

stragglers giving updates today, including British chemicals firm Croda, car dealer Inchcape and

Jupiter Fund Management.

Overall Q4 was pretty strong, with more than half of MSCI Europe firms beating or meeting

analyst expectations, according to Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) data.

Here's a summary of European firms set to report results today:

IDR.MC Full Year 2017 Indra Sistemas SA Earnings Release

MGAMM.L Full Year 2017 Morgan Advanced Materials PLC Earnings Release

VIEV.VI Preliminary 2017 Flughafen Wien AG Earnings Release

PSPN.S Q4 2017 PSP Swiss Property AG Earnings Release

CPRI.MI Q4 2017 Davide Campari Milano SpA Earnings Release

FREG.DE Full Year 2017 Fresenius SE & Co KGaA Earnings Release

GWIG.DE Q4 2017 Gerry Weber International AG Earnings Release

ALLN.S Full Year 2017 Allreal Holding AG Earnings Release

NKT.CO Q4 2017 NKT A/S Earnings Release

BSLN.S Full Year 2017 Basilea Pharmaceutica AG Earnings Release

AUSS.OL Q4 2017 Austevoll Seafood ASA Earnings Release

PRY.MI Full Year 2017 Prysmian SpA Earnings Release

JUP.L Full Year 2017 Jupiter Fund Management PLC Earnings Release

OREIT.HE Q4 2017 Orava Asuntorahasto Oyj Earnings Release

AQUA.OL Q4 2017 Aqualis ASA Earnings Release

ANA.MC Full Year 2017 Acciona SA Earnings Release

TRE.MC Full Year 2017 Tecnicas Reunidas SA Earnings Release

VELOX.CO Q4 2017 Veloxis Pharmaceuticals A/S Earnings Release

EDPR.LS Full Year 2017 EDP Renovaveis SA Earnings Release

CRDA.L Full Year 2017 Croda International PLC Earnings Release

INCH.L Full Year 2017 Inchcape PLC Earnings Release

ELM.L Full Year 2017 Elementis PLC Earnings Release

(Kit Rees)

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MORNING CALL: EUROPEAN SHARES SEEN MARCHING HIGHER (0636 GMT)

Good morning! European shares are seen rising, with spreadbetters calling Britain's FTSE 28

points higher, Germany's DAX 57 points higher and France's CAC 20 points higher.

Overnight, Wall St ended in positive territory as the pressure from rising bond yields

eased, while investors booked profits on China's major stock indexes.

Also of note is the fact that European stocks have made back around half of February's

losses, up around 4 percent from the five-month low hit earlier in the month.

"In light of the solid economic backdrop and good earnings growth seen in the latest

earnings season, we retain our positive view on equities, with a particular preference for the

Eurozone and emerging markets," analysts at Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) 's wealth management division said in a

note.

The big focus today is Fed Chair Jerome Powell's semi-annual monetary policy testimony, due

1500 GMT.

(Kit Rees)

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Helen Reid, Kit Rees and Julien Ponthus)