PARIS, Aug 20 (Reuters) - European equities were set to rise on Thursday,
rebounding from the previous session's dip and tracking gains on Wall Street and
in Asia, where Shanghai stocks bounced back from a sharp two-week sell-off.
By 0630 GMT, futures for the DJ Euro Stoxx STXEc1, for Germany's DAX
FDXc1 and for France's CAC FCEc1 were up 1.3-1.4 percent. Earlier, financial
spreadbetters expected Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open up 35 to 57 points, or
as much as 1.2 percent.
Shanghai's benchmark stock index .SSEC was up 3.8 percent after state
media said the stock regulator had approved several mutual funds this week in
quiet support to the market, which has dropped 20 percent over the past two
weeks.
European oil firms could benefit from gains in crude prices. U.S. crude oil
futures CLc1 climbed above $72 a barrel on Thursday after gaining more than 4
percent the previous day, propelled by industry data showing a steep drop in
crude imports and stockpiles in the United States.
The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares slid 0.3 percent
on Wednesday as investors scaled back their trading positions after heavy losses
in Asia and on concerns about the pace of the global economic recovery.
Volumes remained low because of Europe's summer lull. The total volume on
the FTSEurofirst 300 on Wednesday represented around 70 percent of the index's
90-day average daily volume.
The benchmark index, which has soared 44 percent since reaching a floor in
early March, is up 12 percent year-to-date, propelled in part by
better-than-feared corporate results.
