* Wall Street indexes rise, health care concerns ease
* Energy shares slump as oil falls about 2 pct
* Euro falls on heightened Greece uncertainty
By Jeremy Gaunt and Al Yoon
LONDON/NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - Firmer U.S.
healthcare shares on Monday buoyed world markets still uneasy
amid renewed investor worries over Greece's debt crisis, while
oil fell to its lowest level in nearly three weeks.
MSCI's all-country world stocks index <.MIWD00000PUS>
declined 0.1 percent, with the emerging markets sub-index
<.MSCIEF> down 1 percent.
Equity markets in Europe softened earlier as pharmaceutical
companies faced a new healthcare climate after the U.S. House
of Representatives approved a sweeping overhaul of the industry
and expanded health care to nearly all Americans.
However, analysts said any negative impact from the bill
should be short-lived.
"There's been a considerable amount of uncertainty in the
healthcare arena surrounding the outcome of the legislation.
The fact that we now have legislation removes that uncertainty,
and it makes sense to get a bid under healthcare" stocks, said
Kevin Caron, portfolio manager at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co in
Florham Park, New Jersey.
Continued confusion about support Greece might need or get
to help it sort out its debt crisis cast a shadow over stock
markets. Germany urged Athens to solve its problems alone while
Italy backed European Union support. For details see[].
In the United States, Aetna Inc <AET.N> gained 0.5 percent
to $34.65, while Humana Inc <HUM.N> lost 1.1 percent to $49.39.
Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.M> shares declined 0.2 percent to
$66.93.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> rose 40.44 points,
or 0.38 percent, to 10,782.42. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> edged higher by 3.46 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,163.36
and the Nasdaq Composite Index <> rose 11.35 points, or
0.48 percent, to 2,385.76.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> fell 0.2 percent
to 1,063.36, paring losses after the U.S. open.
India's stock market <> closed down nearly 1 percent
after the central bank's surprise 25-basis point rate hike on
Friday, which came after local markets had closed. The hike
helped weaken commodity stocks elsewhere.
Japan's markets were closed on Monday for a holiday.
GREEK FIRE
The euro slumped to a three-week low against the dollar,
pressured by uncertainty over whether Greece would be able to
secure sufficient aid this week to deal with its deficit
problems.
"It seems there's agreement there will be some sort of
assistance to Greece, but it's not clear what form that will
take," said Carl Hammer, currency strategist at SEB in
Stockholm, adding that this would keep the euro under selling
pressure.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The euro zone crisis in graphics: http://r.reuters.com/fyw72j
Background graphic on Greek numbers:
http://r.reuters.com/wax34j
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In energy and commodities prices, U.S. light sweet crude
oil <CLc1> fell 98 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $79.70 per
barrel, as the dollar strengthened. Spot gold prices <XAU=>
fell $11.25, or 1.02 percent, to $1095.30.
India's rate rise also helped prod the U.S. dollar to a
two-week high against a currency basket <.DXY> . The euro
<EUR=> declined 0.18 percent to $1.3507.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar <JPY=> slipped 0.41
percent to 90.16 yen.
Yields on benchmark euro zone government debt were lower as
equities slipped. But the premium investors demand to hold
Greek government debt rather than euro zone benchmark Bunds
rose to its widest since March 1. The cost of insuring Greek
debt also rose.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> yields
declined by 0.02 percentage point to 3.67 percent.
(Additional reporting by Dominic Lau and Naomi Tajitsu in
London and Leah Schnurr in New York; Editing by Padraic
Cassidy)
