* Global stocks rally on rate cut hopes, bargain hunting
* Europe up 4.3 percent, Japan 7.7 percent
* Fed expected to cut rates at least 50 bps later
* Dollar generally weaker as yen recovers
* Euro zone 2/10-year yield curve steepest since March 2005
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - World stock markets put in a
second consecutive session of bargain-hunting gains on Wednesday
following a huge rally on Wall Street and amid widespread
expectations of a sharp cut in U.S. interest rates.
The mood left the dollar generally weaker.
The Fed is widely expected to cut its key rate for the ninth
time since September 2007 later on Wednesday, at least by 50
basis points. That would take rates down to 1.0 percent.
Others are in the same frame of mind, given the
deteriorating economic outlook and market turmoil.
The Bank of Japan will consider lowering its policy rate at
a meeting on Friday, according to sources familiar with the
matter. The Bank of England and the European Central Bank are
both forecast to lower borrowing costs as well next week.
How much any of these actions will turn around near-term
prospects for major economies is unclear, especially since the
U.S. labour market is forecast to have lost nearly 180,000 jobs
this month.
But stock markets were rallying on the prospect and by a
hefty bout of bargain hunting after recent losses.
MSCI's all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS> was up 2.5
percent after gaining 7 percent on Tuesday, led by 10
percent-plus gains on Wall Street.
The emerging market counterpart <.MSCIEF> was up 2.6
percent, but has still lost more than 60 percent so far this
year.
"Enjoy the party while you can," said David Buik, market
commentator at Cantor Index in London, expressing the broad view
that markets are set up for a bear market rally -- that is, a
burst of gains in a generally downward trend.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst <> was up 4.3 percent.
Earlier, Japan's Nikkei average <> climbed 7.7 percent
or 589.98 points to finish at 8,211.90. It has gained 14.6
percent over the past two days, but is down 46 percent for the
year-to-date.
YEN REBOUNDS
The dollar was generally weaker with the yen climbing after
suffering one of its biggest ever drops against the dollar on
Tuesday.
The dollar fell 1.5 percent from late U.S. trade to 97.27
yen <JPY=> after having surged as high as 99.79 yen on trading
platform EBS, well above the 13-year low of 90.87 yen struck
last week.
On Tuesday the dollar soared more than 6 percent against the
yen -- the biggest one-day gain since 1974 and the
second-biggest since being allowed to trade freely in 1973,
according to data from Reuters Ecowin.
The euro gained a bit against the dollar to $1.2734 <EUR=>,
but overall <.DXY> the dollar was down.
"We've seen a significant reversal of risk aversion and
those currencies which were sold against the dollar aggressively
in the last month have seen a bit of a reversal," said James
Shugg, an economist at Westpac.
The euro zone 2/10-year government bond yield curve rose to
its steepest level since March 2005 as the short-end outperformed
longer-dated paper on hopes of interest rate cuts.
The spread widened to 123 basis points from around 120
basis points late on Tuesday with the two-year yield
<EU2YT=RR> hovering near a three-year low of 2.51 percent.
