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* German economy contracts 0.3% in Q4

* BASF flags earnings rebound, shares rise

* Bouygues Telecom drops on plan to buy La Poste Telecom

* Deutsche Telekom forecasts strong 2024

* EZ inflation expectations edge up for year ahead: ECB

* STOXX 600 ekes out 0.1% gain

Feb 23 (Reuters) - European shares edged up on Friday in choppy trading as gains in heavy-weight banks following Standard Chartered's strong earnings report were nearly offset by a drop in telecom stocks, ahead of remarks from European Central Bank policymakers.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.1% by 0937 GMT, on track for its fifth straight week of gains.

STOXX 600 advanced nearly 0.8% in the week and hit an all-time high in the previous session, led by a jump in technology stocks on a blowout forecast from U.S. chipmaker Nvidia, while positive corporate updates from industry giants aided further support.

The banks index moved up 0.5%, steered by an 8.2% jump in Standard Chartered as the UK lender announced a $1 billion share buyback and rewarded shareholders with dividends after an 18% rise in 2023 profit.

"One of the things that has helped with the economy holding up better than people have expected is that aside from the relevant points around the commercial real estate, credit quality hasn't deteriorated as much as people had feared," said Richard Flax, chief investment officer of Moneyfarm.

Top on investor's watchlist will be comments from ECB policymakers, including President Christine Lagarde, for clues on the interest rate cut trajectory after the central bank said inflation expectations among euro zone consumers rose for the year ahead, adding to fears that the final stage of taming price growth may be difficult.

Keeping a lid on the main index's gains, Deutsche Telekom shed 2.1% despite forecasting strong earnings growth in 2024. The telecommunications index housing the German telecoms provider was off 1.2%.

The German DAX index treaded water, bogged down by a 3.3% drop in Allianz after the insurer said its real estate portfolio fell by 6.2% in 2023 as it revalued some holdings and sold others.

France's benchmark index inched up 0.1. However, Bouygues dropped 2.5% to the bottom of the index after unit Bouygues Telecom said it had signed an exclusivity agreement with La Poste Group to buy La Poste Telecom for 950 million euros ($1.03 billion).

Among other movers, BASF forecast a rebound to core profit in 2024 and said it will slash another 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in annual costs, citing weak demand and high energy costs in Germany, sending the chemicals giant up 1.3%.

Mercedes Benz added more than 2% after brokerage Barclays upgraded the luxury car maker to "overweight" from "equal weight".

Meanwhile, data showed the

German economy shrank by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, marking a full-year contraction for the eurozone's largest economy. (Reporting by Khushi Singh, Johann M Cherian; Editing by Varun H K and Sohini Goswami)