* Wall St indexes rise following healthcare reform vote
* Euro rises vs dollar, though Greece uncertainty lingers
* Oil bounces off lowest since March 2 as dollar falls.
By Al Yoon
NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - U.S. equities rose on Monday
as passage of a landmark bill to reform healthcare drove up
some big pharmaceutical stocks that will likely benefit from
the bill, including shares of European drugmakers, while the
euro rose against the dollar as risk appetite returned.
The euro, however, remained pressured by worries over
Greece's ability to secure aid to help service its ballooning
debts. Traders said the rebound would be short-lived as
investors are expected to remain cautious ahead of a summit of
European Union leaders on Thursday and Friday.
Oil rose toward $81 a barrel as Wall Street gained and the
dollar came off earlier strength.
The firmer U.S. market reduced the loss in MSCI's
all-country world stocks index <.MIWD00000PUS> to less than 0.1
percent.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the healthcare
reform legislation late on Sunday, and while analysts have
raised concerns it will pinch corporate profits, they said much
of the negative impact in stocks was priced in already. For
details, see []
"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.
Also, hospital and pharmaceutical companies could likely
benefit from the bill.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> climbed 41.04
points, or 0.38 percent, to 10,783.02. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> edged higher by 4.3 points, or 0.37 percent,
to 1,164.20 and the Nasdaq Composite Index <> rose 14.72
points, or 0.62 percent, to 2,389.13.
Pfizer Inc <PFE.N>, the world's largest drug company, rose
1.8 percent to $17.22. Merck & Co <MRK.N> advanced 1.3 percent
to $38.56, while the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index
<.HMO> gained 1.2 percent, putting it on track for a sixth
straight session of gains.
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[].
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> closed down 0.03
percent to 1,065.16 points, paring losses after the U.S. open.
Banks were among the biggest decliners on worries over
European Union aid for Greece, but managed to pare earlier
hefty lossses.
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 earlier slumped to a three-week low against the
dollar, pressured by uncertainty over aid for Greece, but later
rebounded as rising equities markets revived risk appetite.
European leaders sent out conflicting signals over the
weekend, with Germany urging Athens to solve its debt problems
alone while Italy strongly backed EU support.
"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 early afternoon trade in New York, the euro was up 0.2
percent at $1.3553 <EUR=> after briefly touching a session high
at $1.3568. Earlier the currency hit a three-week low at
$1.3464. Traders cited short-covering as helping the euro after
London trading wrapped up for the day.
The dollar declined against a basket of major
trading-partner currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY>
off 0.20 percent at 80.566.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar <JPY=> slipped 0.53
percent to 90.05 yen.
Yields on benchmark euro zone government debt were lower as
equities slipped. But the premium that 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.
In energy and commodities, U.S. light sweet crude oil
<CLc1> rose 17 cents, or 0.21 percent, to $80.85 per barrel.
It had dropped as low as $78.57 earlier when the dollar was
higher. Dollar-denominated oil and metals become more expensive
for holders of other currencies when the dollar rises.
"Looks like commodities sold off on fear of what the
equities would do after the health care bill passage. Since the
apocalypse did not occur, I suppose the bulls feel it is safe
to get long again," said Stephen Schork, president at the
Schork Group in Villanova, Pennsylvania.
Spot gold prices <XAU=> fell $6.10, or 0.55 percent, to
$1100.40.
(Additional reporting by Dominic Lau and Naomi Tajitsu in
London and Leah Schnurr and Caroline Valetkevitch in New York;
Editing by Leslie Adler)
