* Euro rebounds against US dollar
* Global stocks rise on signs of stronger economic growth
* Oil prices lower to steady after U.S. jobless claims
(Adds open of U.S. markets, byline, dateline)
By Herbert Lash and Natsuko Waki
NEW YORK/LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The euro rebounded
against the U.S. dollar on Thursday and global stocks gained as
traders cited European Central Bank buying of Portuguese and
Irish bonds as well as further evidence of economic recovery in
Europe and the U.S.
Hopes that the ECB would anounce new anti-crisis measures
had helped lift both the euro <EUR=> and global stock markets
on Wednesday.
The ECB kept interest rates on hold at 1.0 percent as
expected and extended its liquidity safety net for vulnerable
euro zone banks, promising to provide unlimited weekly, monthly
and three-month funding until at least April.
ECB president Jean Claude Trichet did not announce an
expansion of its bond buying, but traders reported ECB bond
purchases that triggered a drop in the premium investors demand
to buy Portuguese and Irish debt over German benchmarks. For
details see: [] []
Some analysts said Trichet's comment that he never said
what the limit of the bond buying program was also helped the
euro bounce off session lows around $1.3060.
Matthew Strauss, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital
Markets in Toronto, said Trichet's comments suggest the option
of further bond purchases "is not necessarily off the table at
all."
Pressure had grown on the ECB to act since last weekend's
85 billion euro ($110.7 billion) rescue of Ireland by the
European Union and International Monetary Fund failed to dispel
fears that other eurozone countries could require a bailout.
[]
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
was up 0.6 percent at 1,095.42 points mid-morning after the ECB
decision and after the GDP for the July-September period in the
16-nation euro zone was reported up 0.4 percent and up 1.9
percent year-on-year.
U.S. stocks extended gains on Thursday after data showed
pending sales of existing homes unexpectedly surged in October
and on news of higher-than-expected sales by U.S. retailers in
November.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> rose 69.85 points,
or 0.62 percent, to 11,325.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> added 8.54 points, or 0.71 percent, to 1,214.61. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <> advanced 15.87 points, or 0.62
percent, to 2,565.30.
"Retail sales are positive. Some of the numbers coming in
are really far above consensus, and that's a good thing," said
Oliver Pursche, president at Gary Goldberg Financial Services
in Suffern, New York.
The dollar, meanwhile, trimmed gains against the Japanese
yen after new claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more
than expected last week. []
The dollar was down against a basket of major currencies,
with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> down 0.22 percent at 80.537.
Against the yen, the dollar <JPY=> was down 0.11 percent at
84.10.
Bond prices were lower. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury
note <US10YT=RR> was down 9/32 in price to yield just below 3.0
percent.
U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> fell 15 cents to $86.60 a
barrel, while spot gold prices <XAU=> rose 71 cents to
$1,387.40 an ounce.
Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei share average hit a
five-month high, rising 1.8 percent <> to the highest
close since June 22. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks
outside Japan was up 1.5 percent <.MIAPJ0000PUS>.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Wanfeng Zhou,
Richard Leong in New York; Kirsten Donovan, Atul Prakash in
London; Writing by Herbert Lash)
