* Equities rise on Intel earnings, JPMorgan eyed
* Dollar weaker
* Greek debt under pressure again
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Equities rose on Wednesday,
pushed higher by expectation-beating results from chipmaker
Intel <INTC.O>, a bullish mood that also rolled into currencies,
weakening the dollar.
Investors remained cautious about Greece, however, pushing
its bond yield spreads against German debt wider despite the
weekend's European Union rescue plan.
Intel Corp's sales and margin forecasts late on Tuesday
trounced Wall Street expectations, reinforcing hopes for an
acceleration in the tech sector's recovery. []
In a similar vein, Dutch chip equipment maker ASML <ASML.AS>
said first-quarter orders beat even the most optimistic
expectations.
World stocks as measured by MSCI <.MIWD00000PUS> were up 0.4
percent with its emerging market counterpart <.MSCIEF> climbing
nearly 1 percent.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> gained 0.3 percent and Japan's
Nikke <> closed up 0.39 percent.
"Intel smashed market expectations -- further evidence of
strong rebound in technology which has been boosted by capital
expenditure from businesses and product launches at retail
level," said Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Wealth.
Investors, however, were waiting for more earnings, in
particlular those due later from JPMorgan Chase <JPM.N>.
Consensus is for the No. 2 U.S. bank to report earnings of
64 cents per share, up from 40 cents a year earlier, as losses
decline on mortgages and other loans.
EASIER DOLLAR
The dollar eased broadly after Singapore revalued its
currency and as the Intel earnings boosted appetite for riskier
currencies.
Commodity currencies such as the Australian and Canadian
dollars gained against the U.S. unit, while the low-yielding yen
also softened.
Singapore's central bank re-centred its trade-weighted band
to the prevailing exchange rate level. Economists said this
meant the currency had been revalued by between 1.2 and 1.4
percent. []
The dollar fell 0.2 percent on the index measuring its
performance against six other major currencies <.DXY> to 80.38
and was nearing a one-month low set on Monday.
Greece's debt troubles continued to haunt euro zone
government bond markets.
The premium investors demand to buy 10-year Greek government
bonds rather than euro zone benchmark German Bunds rose to the
highest level since the euro zone on Sunday agreed an aid deal
for Greece.
On Tuesday, Greece raised 1.56 billion euros via a 26- and
52-week T-Bill auction, paying a hefty yield. []
The cost of insuring Greek debt against default also rose.
Benchmark euro zone government bond yields were flat.
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash, editing by Mike Peacock)
