European Factors to Watch-Shares to advance; EU summit eyed

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) - European shares are set to rise on Tuesday on
expectations that European leaders may agree on some measures to boost investor
confidence at an informal meeting this week and that China will invest in
infrastructure projects to combat slowing growth.

Investors were also likely to find value in stocks that were hit hard during
last week's sell-off following concerns that Greece might quit the euro zone and
Spain's ailing banks might cripple the slumping economy.

Financial spreadbetters predicted Britain's FTSE 100 to open 40 to
41 points higher, or as much as 0.8 percent, Germany's DAX to gain 36
to 40 points, or as much as 0.6 percent, and France's CAC-40 to rise 25
to 30 points, or as much as 1 percent.

"News today from the China Securities Journal that the country plans to
speed up the approval of infrastructure construction projects to improve the
economy is encouraging, and fits in well with Premier Wen (Jiabao)'s pro-growth
comments on the weekend," Chris Weston, trader at IG Markets, said.

"There is also a heightened sense of expectations ahead of the EU (informal)
summit on Wednesday, and a hope that French President (Francois) Hollande will
continue his push for euro bonds, something that has been discussed for some
time as the ultimate answer to creating a real fiscal union."

The new French president raised the idea of bonds jointly underwritten by
all euro zone member states during G8 talks at the weekend and intends to raise
it again when EU leaders meet on May 23, even if it goes against German
Chancellor Angela Merkel's wishes.
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MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0531 GMT

LAST PCT CHG NET CHG

S&P 500 1,315.99 1.6 % 20.77

NIKKEI 8,725.82 1.06 % 91.93

MSCI ASIA EX-JP 1.38 % 6.46

EUR/USD 1.2789 -0.19 % -0.0024

USD/JPY 79.44 0.21 % 0.1700

10-YR US TSY YLD 1.762 -- 0.02

10-YR BUND YLD 1.449 -- 0.00

SPOT GOLD $1,589.96 -0.16 % -$2.59

US CRUDE $92.83 0.28 % 0.26

* Markets extend gains on value hunt, hopes for EU

* Nikkei firms as investors sweep up laggards

* Euro rebound stalls, focus shifts to EU summit

* Wall St rebounds, but investors dump Facebook

* Brent steady near $109 ahead of EU summit, Iran talks

* Gold stalls below $1,600/oz; EU summit eyed

* LME copper gains for third day on China hopes

* Treasuries-Benchmark notes ease on profit-taking

(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Janet Lawrence)