* World stocks <.MIWD00000PUS> hit 5-week highs
* Equities rally on U.S. govt plan on toxic assets
* Dlr consolidates on improved sentiment towards US assets
By Atul Prakash
LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - World stocks hit five-week
highs on Tuesday on growing optimism that a U.S. plan to purge
toxic assets from the balance sheet of banks could ease the
misery of the financial sector.
Appetite for riskier assets also grew after data showed on
Monday a surprise rise in U.S. home sales, reviving hopes that
the battered housing market could be on a recovery path.
The dollar's trade-weighted value consolidated, halting its
fall last week triggered by the Federal Reserve's announcement
that its balance sheet expansion of over $1 trillion would
include purchases of government debt.
The dollar held its ground against a basket of currencies as
the euro slipped on expectations of an interest rate cut next
week and the global equity market rally hit the yen.
The U.S. government on Monday offered a raft of incentives
for private investors to help rid banks of up to $1 trillion in
toxic assets that plunged the world economy into crisis.
The plan is the latest step in a series of aggressive
actions to restore credit flows and combat a virulent recession.
Less than a week ago, the Fed ramped up its efforts, vowing to
pump an additional $1.15 trillion into the economy.
The MSCI World index <.MIWD00000PUS>, a gauge of global
stocks performance, was 0.6 percent higher after rising to its
highest level since mid-February. The index has risen for 10 out
of the last 11 days. The MSCI stock index for emerging markets
<.MSCIEF> also climbed 5.09 percent.
"If this positive momentum can be sustained, and there are
further signs that the credit markets are loosening, we could
see money that had previously sat on the sidelines re-entering
the markets," said Chris Hossain, senior sales manager at ODL
Securities.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index <> of top European shares
rose for a fourth consecutive day and was up 0.3 percent,
tracking a 7 percent jump on Wall Street and more than 3 percent
rise in Japanese shares <>.
Key gauges of services and manufacturing activity also
suggested the economic contraction gripping the euro zone eased
a little in March, against expectations, but firms continued to
slash jobs and prices. []
Markit said its Flash Eurozone Purchasing Managers Index for
the dominant service sector rose to 40.1 in March, still well
below the 50 mark where growth begins but ahead of February's
39.2 and considerably above expectations for 39.0.
END OF BEAR MARKET?
But analysts said they wanted to see more evidence before
declaring the market has seen its trough. The FTSEurofirst is
still down 11 percent this year after plunging 45 percent in
2008 on a crisis that began with U.S. mortgage defaults in 2007
and has pushed much of the world into a deep recession.
"Everyone seems very upbeat and people are calling the end
of the bear market, but we haven't reached the bottom of the
economic cycle -- there's at least three months of painful stuff
to come," said David Buik, senior strategist at BGC Partners.
In the currency market, the dollar consolidation and profit
taking on the euro showed currency traders trimming some of the
bets built up in recent sessions as they waited to see if
equities could extend their sharp gains from the last session.
The dollar index <.DXY>, a gauge of its performance against
a basket of major currencies, was flat at 83.470.
The euro backed down from the peaks hit in the wake of the
Fed's announcement last week, after European Central Bank
President Jean-Claude Trichet again said interest rates could be
cut to help kickstart the economy.
European credit derivative indexes rallied for a second day,
after stocks rose sharply. The investment-grade Markit iTraxx
Europe index <ITEEU5Y=GF> was at 154 basis points, according to
data from Markit, 9 basis points tighter versus late Monday.
Euro zone government bond yields marked a five-day high
<EU10YT=RR>, while U.S. Treasuries <TYv1> slipped as stocks
extended their rally and dealers braced for this week's slew of
nearly $100 billion of U.S. bond supply which opens with $40
billion of two-year T-Notes on Tuesday.
(Additional reporting by Simon Falush; editing by Stephen
Nisbet)
