RPT-European Factors to Watch-German, French shares to gain on data

LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - German and French shares were set to rise sharply on Wednesday as encouraging manufacturing data from the United States, the world's biggest economy, revived expectations that the pace of global economic recovery was gathering momentum. The two markets will resume trading on Wednesday after a public holiday in the previous session. However, British stocks are likely to fall as the UK market was open on Tuesday and had a chance to react to the economic numbers.