* Strong manufacturing data across the world lifts mood
* Global stocks rise but RIM takes shine off Nasdaq
* Dollar hits 7-month high against yen, eases against euro
* Oil closes at 18-month high, metals climb
By Walter Brandimarte
NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - The dollar hit a seven-month
high against the yen and global stocks rose on Thursday as
data showing strong manufacturing growth in Asia, Europe and
the Americas raised optimism about the economic recovery.
Oil rose to an 18-month high as the economic data
encouraged funds to step up buying on the first day of the
second quarter, and higher commodity prices helped drive up
energy and materials shares on both sides of the Atlantic.
European shares finished at an 18-month closing high. But
on Wall Street the Nasdaq gave back most of its gains as
shares of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion <RIM.TO><RIMM.O>
tumbled on disappointing quarterly results.
Data on Thursday showed factories across China, Europe,
the United States and Brazil cranked up production. An index
of U.S. manufacturing activity rose to its highest level in
more than 5-1/2 years, the Institute for Supply Management
said. For details, see [] []
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Commodities and emerging market assets jumped, while
prices of safe-haven U.S. Treasury bonds retreated as
investors started the second quarter with renewed appetite for
higher-yielding assets.
Data showing new U.S. jobless claims fell more than
expected last week also improved sentiment as investors saw
more signs that the strong economic recovery in emerging
markets is also taking root in the industrialized countries.
"We had a slew of nice upside surprises from manufacturing
data in China, Europe, the UK. So that's a good start to the
month," said Matthew Strauss, senior strategist at RBC Capital
Markets in Toronto.
"And if we get a good payrolls number tomorrow, that's a
dollar-positive," he added.
Both the Dow and the S&P 500 finished Thursday's session
at 18-month highs. The Dow Jones industrial average <>
ended up 70.44 points, or 0.65 percent, at 10,927.07, while
the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 8.67 points, or
0.74 percent, to 1,178.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index <>
rose 4.62 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,402.58.
RIM's shares slid 7.42 percent as the company's quarterly
results increased worries about rivals stealing market share
from the BlackBerry smartphone. []
Anxiety over Friday's key U.S. payrolls data also took
part of the shine off the U.S. stock market.
Economists expect the report to show 190,000 new jobs were
added to the economy in March. The data will be released while
U.S. markets are closed on Good Friday for the long Easter
holiday weekend.
"The fact that they are releasing the jobs report on the
day when 90 percent of the markets are not going to open gives
a negative outlook," said Frank Pavilonis, senior market
strategist at at Lind-Waldock, a retail brokerage firm in
Chicago.
Still, energy and materials shares led the S&P 500's gains
as the industrial production data suggested improving global
demand for commodities. The S&P energy index <.GSPE> rose 1.6
percent. The S&P materials index <.GSPM> advanced 1.8
percent.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares
<> rose 1.43 percent to 1,094.05, its highest close
since late September 2008.
Investors snapped up miners' shares as copper <MCU3> hit a
20-month high on signals of improving demand. BHP Billiton
<BLT.L> added 1.8 percent, while Anglo American <AAL.L> rose
2.5 percent; Rio Tinto <RIO.L> gained 2.6 percent and ENRC
<ENRC.L> advanced 2.8 percent. Antofagasta <ANTO.L> advanced
3.4 percent and Xstrata <XTA.L> climbed 4.1 percent.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei average <> rose 1.4 percent
to end at 11,244.40, its highest level in a year and a half,
buoyed by the yen's drop, which makes it easier for Japanese
exporters to sell their goods abroad.
The MSCI All-Country World Index <.MIWD00000PUS> of global
stocks was up 1 percent, after posting a fourth consecutive
quarterly gain with a 2.7 percent rise in the first three
months of 2010.
The MSCI stock index for emerging markets <.MSCIEF>
climbed 1.68 percent as HSBC's China Purchasing Managers'
Index (PMI) showed first-quarter manufacturing output expanded
at the briskest clip in the survey's six-year history.
China's official purchasing managers index rose to 55.1 in
March from 52.0 in February, beating the median forecast of
54.5 in a Reuters poll of economists.
In Brazil, industrial production climbed 1.5 percent in
February, well above the 0.9 percent forecast by economists in
a Reuters poll.
Manufacturing activity in the euro zone also grew last
month at its fastest pace in over three years, data showed.
YEN FALLS, OIL JUMPS
The U.S. dollar rose as high as 93.89 yen <JPY=>, its best
level since August 2009. It was last at 93.82 yen, up 0.39
percent on the day.
The yen's weakening was also spurred by talk that Japanese
investors will look for higher returns abroad now that the
country's new fiscal year has started.
The euro, however, erased early losses and gained 0.56
percent against the dollar to $1.3585.
Against the Swiss franc, the euro also jumped to a session
high of 1.441 as traders mentioned talk of intervention by the
Swiss National Bank to prop up its currency. The SNB declined
to comment on the franc's price action.
The flow of money into riskier assets put government bonds
under pressure. The price of the benchmark 10-year U.S.
Treasury note <US10YT=RR> slipped 10/32, with the yield rising
to 3.87 percent from 3.83 percent on Wednesday.
The Chinese data also helped lift metals prices, with
copper <CMCU3> rising to a 20-month high as improving demand
sentiment combined with fund buying to drive the rally, while
nickel hit a near two-year high at $25,320.
Oil pushed to a near 18-month high, bolstered by talk of
fresh inflows from investors at the start of the new quarter.
U.S. crude for May delivery <CLc1> rose $1.11, or 1.3 percent,
to settle at $84.87 a barrel, its highest close since Oct. 9,
2008. Its session high at $85.22 was also its highest level
since that day.
(To read 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)
(Reporting by Walter Brandimarte; Additional reporting by
Steven C. Johnson and Ellis Mnyandu in New York; Editing by
Jan Paschal)
