* Stocks rebound in Europe, U.S. but volumes low
* Yen holds near 15-year high against dollar
* Treasuries prices fall as concerns about Europe ease
(Updates with U.S. markets close)
By Daniel Bases and Walter Brandimarte
NEW YORK, Sept 8 (Reuters) - U.S. and European stock
markets rose on Wednesday as worries about Europe's debt
problems eased, allowing the euro to recover part of Tuesday's
losses.
Oil prices tracked stocks higher even as low liquidity in
equity markets suggested investors were still cautious.
Market sentiment improved after a successful auction of
Portuguese debt eased concerns about the credit-worthiness of
weaker European economies. On Tuesday, fears about European
banks had driven down global stocks and the euro.
Uncertainty about the global economic recovery continued to
haunt investors, however, keeping the safe-haven yen near a
15-year high against the dollar and testing the Bank of Japan's
resolve to curb currency gains.
"The Portuguese debt auction was perceived well and has
helped the market," said Philippe Gijsels, head of research at
BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets in Brussels.
"But there is still uncertainty about the global economies
and the markets are reacting positively or negatively to minor
news as they can't get the answer to the bigger questions. The
market is within a trading range and there are wild intraday
swings," he added.
MSCI's All-Country World index <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 0.36
percent, supported by gains in Europe and in the United States,
but pressured by losses in developing countries. The MSCI stock
index for emerging markets <.MSCIEF> fell 0.16 percent.
U.S. stock markets recovered part of the losses seen on
Tuesday, when its three major stock indexes slid more than 1
percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> closed up 46.32
points, or 0.45 percent, at 10,387.01, while the Standard &
Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 7.03 points, or 0.64 percent, to
1,098.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> finished with
gains of 19.98 points, or 0.9 percent, at 2,228.87.
Banking shares gained ground, one day after being hit by
concerns about the health of their European peers. JPMorgan
Chase <JPM.N> rose 2.19 percent, Bank of America <BAC.N>
climbed 1.21 percent, and Wells Fargo <WFC.N> ended up 1.2
percent.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index rose 0.96
percent to a four-month high of 1,072 points.
Shares in BP <BP.L> rose 1.3 percent after it issued a
report shifting much of the blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil
spill -- the worst in U.S. history -- onto its contractors
Transocean <RIG.N> and Halliburton <HAL.N>.
In Japan, however, the benchmark Nikkei stock index
<> ended down 2.18 percent, as the strong yen hurt
prospects for exporters.
EURO REBOUNDS, YEN HOLDS
The euro recovered against the dollar after Portugal's
successful bond auction made its Tuesday slump appear
overdone.
The European single currency <EUR=> climbed 0.28 percent
against the greenback to $1.2718, after tumbling about 1.5
percent on Tuesday.
"People have gravitated tentatively back towards the equity
market. That has helped the euro to climb off its lows," said
Dean Popplewell, chief strategist at FX brokerage OANDA in
Toronto. "Investors are still relatively uneasy about the
financial situations in Europe."
Another factor helping the euro rise was Ireland's finance
ministry saying nationalized lender Anglo Irish Bank will be
split into a funding bank and an asset recovery bank to wind
down its assets.
"Just the (Irish) announcement bought a little relief
rally" in the euro, said John McCarthy, director of foreign
exchange trading at ING Capital Markets in New York. "But
people are looking to sell the euros in substantial rallies as
issues such as sovereign debt in the euro zone have not gone
away."
Even as European debt fears eased somewhat, lingering
concerns about the global economic recovery kept intact the
safe-haven appeal of the yen.
The Japanese currency <JPY=> remained practically stable
against the dollar, at 83.83 yen per greenback. Earlier on the
session, the dollar fell to as low as 83.34 yen on electronic
trading platform EBS <JBY=EBS>, its lowest since 1995.
Despite the strength of the yen, Bank of Japan Governor
Masaaki Shirakawa reiterated his reluctance to return to
quantitative easing. He indicated, however, that the central
bank was weighing its options, while Finance Minister Yoshihiko
Noda again warned he would take decisive action if necessary.
[]
"Not surprisingly, more rhetoric from Japanese policymakers
has been unleashed, though the legitimacy of such talk is still
in question until we see some actual action," said Sacha
Tihanyi, currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto.
Higher stocks caused benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries
<US10YT=RR> to fall 16/32 of a point in price, pushing their
yield up to 2.6537 percent.
U.S. light crude oil <CLc1> rose 78 cents, or 1.05 percent,
to $74.87 per barrel.
(Additional reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch, Rodrigo
Campos, Nick Olivary, Jeremy Gaunt, Neal Armstrong, Kirsten
Donovan, George Matlock, Joanne Frearson; Editing by Andrew
Hay)
