German stocks - Factors to watch on January 26

FRANKFURT Jan 26 (Reuters) - The DAX top-30 index looked set to open 0.7 percent higher on Thursday, according to premarket data from brokerage Lang & Schwarz at 0716 GMT.

The following are some of the factors that may move German stocks:

ALLIANZ, MUNICH RE, HANNOVER RE

Allianz indicated 0.5 percent higher

Munich Re indicated 0.8 percent higher

Hannover Re indicated 0.6 percent higher

The introduction of new European risk capital rules for the insurance sector known as Solvency II may be delayed by two years to be introduced in 2015 and fully implemented in 2016, the Financial Times Deutschland reported, citing an unnamed insurance manager.

Separately, Munich Re Chief Executive Nikolaus von Bomhard told Sueddeutsche Zeitung his company has worked out scenarios for a possible failure of a euro rescue. "The spectrum of scenarios has widened, we cannot ignore that just because we do not wish it to be that way," he said.

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DEUTSCHE BOERSE

Indicated 0.1 percent higher

The European Commission will meet on Feb. 1 to decide on the proposed merger of NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse, according to a NYSE Euronext filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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E.ON

Indicated 1.1 percent higher

The company plans to divest its E.ON Westfalen-Weser unit, in which it holds about 63 percent, German paper Westfalen-Blatt reported, without saying where it obtained the information.

The unit has annual sales of 628 million euros ($815 million) and employs 1,040 staff, the paper added.

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LUFTHANSA

Indicated 1.0 percent higher

Services trade union Verdi and flight attendants union UFO criticised a Lufthansa compensation offer of a 3.5 percent wage increase over 13 months as insufficient.

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SAP

Indicated 0.2 percent higher

Co-Chief Executive Jim Hagemann Snabe said on Thursday he expected the business software maker to keep its profit margins steady this year compared to last.

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THYSSENKRUPP

Indicated 0.4 percent higher

German labour representatives are to start negotiations on Thursday with Outokumpu and ThyssenKrupp to hammer out a deal that would secure German jobs under any merger of the stainless steel businesses of the two firms, two sources familiar with the matter said.

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EADS

Indicated 0.6 percent higher in Frankfurt

Airbus acknowledged a combination of internal manufacturing and design flaws as more examples of wing cracks arose during checks on the A380, while insisting the world's largest airliner is safe to fly.

Jean-Claude Trichet, the former president of the European Central Bank, is set to become a board member of Airbus parent EADS, according to Les Echos.

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WACKER CHEMIE

Indicated 2.6 percent lower

The world's No.2 maker of polysilicon said it saw customer demand rebound in the first weeks of 2012, after weak business at its units catering to the semiconductor and solar sectors led to lower-than-expected 2011 results. [ID:

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SMA SOLAR, SOLARWORLD, Q-CELLS

SMA Solar indicated 0.3 percent higher

SolarWorld indicated 0.5 percent higher

Q-Cells indicated xx percent 0.3 higher

German environment minister Norbert Roettgen wants to bring forward reductions in the country's incentives for solar power by three months to April 1 in light of the continued strong expansion in the world's largest market.

Separately, the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, led by the U.S. arm of SolarWorld, said Chinese manufacturers including Suntech Power Holdings and Trina Solar flooded the U.S. market with their products at the end of last year in anticipation of potential duties.

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OVERSEAS STOCK MARKETS

Dow Jones +0.7 pct, S&P 500 +0.9 pct, Nasdaq +1.1 pct at Wednesday's close.

Nikkei -0.4 pct at Thursday's close.

ANALYSTS' VIEWS

DEUTSCHE POST -- Nomura raises its price target on the stock to 16 euros from 15 euros.

K+S -- HSBC cuts its price target on the stock to 55 euros from 59 euros.

LINDE -- HSBC cuts its recommendation on the stock to "neutral" from "overweight".

LUFTHANSA -- Nomura raises its recommendation on the stock to "buy" from "neutral".

SAP -- Credit Suisse raises its price target on the stock to 55 euros from 52 euros. HSBC raies its price target to 52 euros from 50 euros. Kepler raises its price target to 49 euros from 46 euros.

SIEMENS -- ING cuts its price target on the stock to 79 euros from 81 euros. Bernstein cuts its recommendation to "market perform" from "outperform", with a price target cut to 73 euros from 87 euros.

FRAPORT -- Nomura raises its price target on the stock to 65.5 euros from 63.6 euros.

HHLA -- Nomura cuts its price target to 29 euros from 32 euros.

LANXESS -- HSBC cuts the stock to "neutral" from "overweight".

SYMRISE -- HSBC raises its price target on the stock to 22.50 euros from 19.50 euros.

AIR BERLIN -- Nomura cuts its price target on the stock to 1.80 euros from 2.50 euros.

AXEL SPRINGER -- Barclays raises its price target on the stock to 32.50 euros from 31.50 euros.

FEDERAL RESERVE

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday pushed back the likely timing of an eventual interest rate hike until late 2014, much later than it had previously said, as it nurses a still-sluggish economic recovery.

It also took the historic step of setting an inflation target, of 2 percent, a victory for Chairman Ben Bernanke that brings the Fed in line with many of the world's other major central banks.

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GERMAN ECONOMIC DATA

February consumer sentiment rose to 5.9, compared with a consensus forecast of 5.6.

EUROPEAN FACTORS TO WATCH

DIARIES

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