* Dollar gains vs yen on strong import data from China
* U.S. stocks rise as fears of double-dip recession ebb
* Oil rises 3 pct to above $76 on U.S. supply outage
* U.S. bonds slide, post worst week since March
(Updates close of U.S. markets)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose on
Friday after strong import data from China bolstered rising
optimism about global growth, while stocks edged higher, buoyed
by the economic outlook and a 3 percent gain in oil prices.
Chinese imports jumped in August, helping lift equity
markets and commodity prices while diminishing the safe-haven
appeal of the Japanese yen and Swiss franc. For details, see
[]
China's imports rose 35.2 percent in August from a year
earlier, which easily beat market forecasts and suggested
potential stronger domestic demand in an economy that is a
major driver of global growth.
The dollar <JPY=> was up 0.43 percent at 84.16 yen. But it
remained near 15-year lows, keeping the prospect for yen
intervention alive. []
"Risk aversion has subsided a little bit as a result of the
positive import data out of China overnight," said Omer Esiner,
chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in
Washington. "That has revived a little bit of hope that China
can in fact contribute more sustainably to a global recovery."
Global stocks reversed early losses to trade higher as the
Dow and S&P 500 posted their seventh gain in eight sessions.
[]
The benchmark S&P 500 is now up 5.7 percent in September,
while MSCI's all-country world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS>,
which added 0.2 percent on Friday, has gained 5.2 percent for
the month.
Energy shares advanced as crude futures <CLc1> rose above
$76 per barrel after an outage forced the biggest pipeline to
supply Canadian oil to refineries in the U.S. Midwest and to a
key storage hub in Oklahoma to shut down. [].
The PHLX oil services sector index <.OSX> gained 2.4
percent.
"There's been a resurgence in optimism about the economy,
and that's directly linked to oil demand," said Peter
Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments
LLC in Lisle, Illinois.
Worries in August that the U.S. economy was poised to slip
back into recession have waned as economic data, while still
sluggish, has beat consensus forecasts since September began.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> closed up 47.53
points, or 0.46 percent, at 10,462.77. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> added 5.37 points, or 0.49 percent, at
1,109.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> rose 6.28 points,
or 0.28 percent, at 2,242.48.
Trading was light. The combined volume of stocks listed on
the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and
Nasdaq was 5.68 billion shares, almost half last year's daily
average of 9.65 billion.
The week was shortened by the U.S. Labor Day holiday on
Monday and trading desks were reduced because of Jewish new
year celebrations on Thursday and Friday.
While the U.S. crude contract for delivery in October rose
as much as $76.59 a barrel, the highest since mid-August, a
leading forecaster said demand would remain tepid.
[]
The International Energy Agency said global oil demand
growth was expected to increase a little this year but slip in
2011 and that fuel consumption could be much weaker if the
world economy slows. []
The front-month U.S. contract settled up $2.20 at $76.45.
In London, Brent crude oil was up just 69 cents a barrel at
$78.11 as concerns about global demand still weighed.
The U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> was up 0.24 percent at 82.873,
while the euro <EUR=> was up 0.11 percent at $1.2708.
U.S. Treasuries fell for the third consecutive day and
logged their worst week since March as loads of government and
corporate supply weighed on a market that many still see as
over-priced. []
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was
down 10/32 in price to yield 2.79 percent.
Gold steadied at moderately lower levels below $1,250 an
ounce as the yen slid against the dollar and investors
continued to unwind safe-haven plays taken out earlier this
week. []
U.S. December gold futures <GCZ0> eased $4.40 to end at
$1,246.50 an ounce in New York.
Copper slipped, suffering its first weekly decline in four
weeks, as investors weighed mixed indicators of demand in China
-- potential monetary tightening versus strong import data.
News that Beijing had moved the release of key economic
data for August to Saturday from Monday sparked concerns about
a possible surge in China's consumer price index. <ECONCN>
Copper for December delivery <HGZ0> in New York fell 3.70
cents to end at $3.4065 a pound.
Earlier in Asia, stocks rose to a four-month high. The MSCI
index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan edged up 0.2 percent
<.MIAPJ0000PUS>, while Tokyo's Nikkei share average closed 1.6
percent <> higher.
(Reporting by Edward Krudy, Wanfeng Zhou, David Sheppard and
Burton Frierson and Carole Vaporean in New York; Writing by
Herbert Lash; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
