* Oil jumps after Western forces strike Libya again
* Progress seen at Japan nuclear plants lifts stocks
* Deutsche Telekom soars on proposed deal with AT&T
* Euro rises on rate hike expectations
(Adds U.S. market open, updates prices, adds byline, New York
dateline)
By Rodrigo Campos and Mike Peacock
NEW YORK/LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - Stocks rose across
the globe on Monday as risk appetite returned following
progress in solving Japan's nuclear crisis while the yen slid
on speculation of more central bank intervention.
Oil prices also gained after Western forces launched a
second wave of air strikes on Libya.
U.S. stocks rose more than 1 percent as investors welcomed
AT&T's <T.N> proposal to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom
for $39 billion, which would be the world's biggest deal this
year and Germany's biggest in a decade.
Deutsche Telekom AG <DTEGn.DE> soared more than 13
percent.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
shares was up 1.7 percent at 1345 GMT. and the MSCI world share
index <.MIWD00000PUS> jumped 1.4 percent, taking it back into
positive territory for the year to date.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was up 197.53
points, or 1.67 percent, at 12,056.05. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> gained 19.06 points, or 1.49 percent, at
1,298.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> added 46.19
points, or 1.75 percent, at 2,689.86.
Engineers rigged power cables to all six reactors at
Japan's Fukushima complex and started a water pump at one of
them to reverse the overheating that has triggered the world's
worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. For details, see
[]
"The market hates uncertainty and the issues in Japan are
easing, which is helping," said Colin McLean, managing director
at fund group SVM Asset Management in Edinburgh, which has 700
million euros assets under management.
The yen added to losses, with speculators wary of more
coordinated action by the Group of Seven countries after their
first joint intervention. []
The euro briefly rose above $1.42 against the U.S. dollar
for the first time since November, as markets braced for a euro
zone interest rate hike as soon as next month.
Brent crude for May <LCOc1> was up $1.57 at $115.50 a
barrel by 1345 GMT after the U.N.-mandated attacks on Libya to
protect civilians caught up in a one-month-old revolt against
Muammar Gaddafi's forces. []
Oil traders will remain on edge after unrest also flared in
Syria and Yemen in the wake of popular uprisings that toppled
long-time leaders in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year and a
crackdown on protests in Bahrain last week.
Oil has risen nearly 22 percent this quarter and the social
unrest in North Africa and the oil-producing Gulf provide
enough uncertainty to keep prices buoyed.
"The key is really how Saudi (Arabia) and Iran play out.
Cool heads need to prevail. It's contained at the moment, but
if things worsen, you see a Mideast premium very quickly," said
Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking
Services.
U.S. Treasuries prices extended losses after the Treasury
said it will wind down the remaining $142 billion of its
agency-guaranteed mortgage-backed portfolio.
Benchmark 10-year notes <US10YT=RR> were last down 19/32 in
price to yield 3.33 percent, up from 3.28 percent late on
Friday.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Libya Graphics
http://link.reuters.com/neg68r
Japan disaster in figures
http://r.reuters.com/ser58r
Japan disaster Top News page
[]
Picture, graphic packages:
http://r.reuters.com/wyb58r
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YEN SLIDES
The dollar rose 0.5 percent from late U.S. trade on Friday
to 81.13 yen <JPY=>, after joint G7 intervention last week
hoisted the greenback nearly 4 percent versus the Japanese
currency.
The G7 acted after the yen jumped to a post-World War Two
record high of 76.25 yen to the dollar last Thursday. More is
expected to come if it climbs again.
"Dollar/yen will be supported in the near term with the
market wary of more intervention," said Hans-Guenter Redeker,
chief fx strategist at BNP Paribas.
"The central banks have drawn a line in the sand and it has
made a psychological impact on the markets which are unlikely
to take dollar/yen down to 76.25 yen again in the short term."
Japan's benchmark Nikkei share average <> plunged 10
percent last week as engineers battled to prevent a meltdown
and radiation leak at a nuclear power plant crippled by an
earthquake and tsunami that devastated a swathe of the
country.
Japan's markets were closed for a holiday on Monday but the
MSCI index of Asian stocks outside of Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS>
rose 1.4 percent.
* For Reuters Global Investing Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting
* For the MacroScope Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope
* For Hedge Fund Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub
(Additional reporting by Wanfeng Zhou, Angela Moon, Karen
Brettell, Ian Chua, Joanne Frearson, Blaise Robinson, Alejandro
Barbajosa and Anirban Nag)
