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July 3 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Wednesday as investors welcomed dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and looked ahead to the second round of the French vote and a national election in the UK.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 0.3% by 0709 GMT, rising for a second of the past seven sessions.
Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 closed above the 5,500 mark on Tuesday after told a panel that recent data represented "significant progress" while adding that the Fed needed to see more before changing policy.
French stocks climbed 0.4% as opponents of France's National Rally (RN) their bid to block the far-right party from power, with more candidates agreeing to pull out of this weekend's run-off election to avoid splitting the anti-RN vote.
The UK's FTSE 100 also added 0.4% ahead of the July 4 election, which could see a possible end to 14 years of Conservative government.
Volkswagen edged up 0.4% after U.S. electric vehicle maker denied a media report about its extended partnership with the German automaker.
Bpost tumbled 10.2% after the Belgian postal operator issued a downbeat full-year earnings forecast, citing unfavourable market conditions in North America.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru and Jesus Calero in Gdansk; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
((sruthi.shankar@thomsonreuters.com [sruthi.shankar@thomsonreuters.com]; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 6182 2787;))
