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Rebound in energy stocks helps lift European equities

* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.6 pct, Euro STOXX 50 up 0.3 pct

* DAX back within range of its June record high

* Rise in oil stocks adds most points to FTSEurofirst

* SMA Solar slumps after profit warning

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - European stock markets rose on Tuesday, helped by a rebound in energy stocks after crude oil prices bounced late on Monday from 5-year lows.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which fell on Monday after six days of gains, was up 0.91 percent at 1,397.88 points.

The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index advanced 0.3 percent to 3,242.59 points. Germany's DAX also edged up 0.1 percent to 9,975.01 points - putting the DAX just 1 percent below its June record high of 10,050.98 points.

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Oil majors such as BP, Total and Royal Dutch Shell all rose by about 2 percent to add the most points to the FTSEurofirst.

Among standout losers, German solar company SMA Solar fell 17 percent after it cut its outlook for 2014.

"The weight of money does seem to want to come back into the stock markets, and we're more likely to drift up going into the end of the year than drift down," Monaco-based McLaren Securities managing director, Terry Torrison, said.

Oil has plunged by close to 40 percent in the past five months in its longest string of monthly losses since the 2008 global financial crisis.

However, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said late on Monday that the falling oil prices were a positive for the global economy as a whole, and although it has affected energy stocks, it has also given a lift to travel stocks and should have a positive impact on consumer spending.

European stock markets have also been supported by the prospect of new economic stimulus measures from the European Central Bank (ECB) to boost the region's sluggish economy.

The ECB meets on Thursday and while traders polled by Reuters did not expect the bank to announce any new measures this week, investors said the likelihood that it will take action next year was helping to prop up European stock markets.

"The market is holding up because it's looking for more quantitative easing from the ECB," Central Markets Investment Management's head of trading, Darren Courtney-Cook, said.

Europe bourses in 2014: http://link.reuters.com/pap87v

Asset performance in 2014: http://link.reuters.com/gap87v

Today's European research round-up (Editing by Louise Ireland)