* Global stocks set to record best month in over 6 years
* European shares up on month, still down overall for Q1
* Crude, metal rebound, helped by equities
* Dollar falls against euro
By Dominic Lau
LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - World stocks looked set on
Tuesday to achieve their best monthly performance in more than
six years in March, while commodity prices also rose and the
Japanese yen fell.
The MSCI World index <.MIWD00000PUS> strengthened 0.6
percent and was on course to record its biggest monthly rise
since October 2002. But the global stock index is still down
more than 12 percent this quarter after losing 22.7 percent in
the October-December period last year.
"The macro landscape has been stabilising, which has helped
equities bounce back from historical lows. But to really improve
market sentiment, we need to see the data improving and not just
stabilising," Jacques Henry, analyst at Louis Capital markets in
Paris.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index advanced 1.8
percent, and UK retailer Marks & Spencer <MKS.L> soared 10
percent after reporting a smaller-than-feared drop in fourth
quarter underlying sales, lifting other embattled retailers.
The FTSEurofirst 300 is also up for the month, but still
down more than 13 percent in the first three months of the year.
Tokyo's Nikkei average <> ended down 1.5 percent, even
though the Japanese government is expected to include steps to
buy shares from the market as part of its new economic stimulus
package.
Japanese blue chips managed to gain more than 7 percent this
month as the country's financial year draws to a close, but were
down 8.5 percent in the first quarter.
Japanese unemployment rose to a three-year high in February
as a deepening recession put more people out of work, and Prime
Minister Taro Aso was expected to outline a new stimulus plan on
Tuesday, two days before world leaders gather in London to
discuss ways out of the global crisis.
The yen <JPY=> also fell broadly, while the euro rose 0.6
percent to $1.3283. <EUR=>
Metal prices rose, and crude <CLc1> recouped some of the
previous session's 7 percent loss as stock markets edged up.
"Oil is being propped up by firmer stocks and a modest
rebound in the euro versus the dollar," said Michelle Kwek, an
analyst at Informa Global Markets in Singapore.
Leaders from the Group of 20 rich and big developing
economies will address a crisis that has felled major banks and
cost millions of jobs as the world faces its biggest recession
since the 1930s.
Officials have already acknowledged the G20 summit would
fall short of an overhaul of the world economy. U.S. and
European leaders have also differed over whether more spending
or more regulatory reform would be a better response to the
crisis.
Government bonds were mixed. The benchmark 10-year U.S.
Treasury yield <US10YT=RR> rose by 3 basis points but the euro
zone benchmark 10-year bund <EU10YT=RR> fell by 1 basis point.
European credit indexes were little changed.
Australian central bank deputy government Ric Battellino
said there were some signs that China's $585 billion stimulus
measures to bolster its economy were starting to work.
(Additional reporting by Blaise Robinson in Paris and Fayen
Wong in Perth; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
