* Equities mood still strong after U.S. jobs data
* Dollar weaker
* U.S. markets closed for Labor Day
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - World stocks rose on Monday on
hopes the U.S. economy can avoid slipping back into recession,
although the International Monetary Fund's chief economist
warned of weak growth in both the United States and Europe.
With U.S. markets closed for the Labour Day holiday,
Friday's encouraging news about the employment picture continued
to spill over into trading on Monday.
Some investors, particularly in Asia, were catching up with
the U.S. jobs numbers, which were not as bad as some had feared.
The slowing of the world's largest economy has been one of the
major factors holding investors back over recent months.
MSCI's all-country world stock index <.MIWD00000PUS> and its
Thomson Reuters counterpart <.TRXFLDGLPU> were up more than 0.4
percent at the European close after a nearly 3.7 percent gain
for the MSCI last week.
Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 <> closed slightly higher,
up 0.2 percent.
The jobs data was supportive, but utilities shares topped
the gainers list after Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition
government agreed to a two-tier extension of the lifespans of
German nuclear power plants on Sunday. []
Trading was also thin because U.S. markets are closed for
Labor Day.
Japan's Nikkei <> earlier closed up 2.05 percent.
"After a string of disappointing numbers, the data last week
provided an element of stability and helped increase risk
appetite," said Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays
Wealth.
"When you couple that with the outlook for corporates, it
looks pretty good."
The latest corporate earnings season has been relatively
strong in both the United States and Europe while merger and
acquisition activity in August was the most robust for the month
since 1999.
DOLLAR DIPS
The dollar was generally weaker with the euro rising for a
time to its highest in three weeks before easing back.
"We are seeing some relief from fears about a double-dip
recession in the U.S. helping risk sentiment and the euro," said
Gareth Berry, currency strategist at UBS. "But whether this
sentiment can be sustained or not is difficult to say."
IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard told France's Le
Figaro that a U.S. slowdown would have an automatic impact on
growth in Asia in the short term but "decoupling" between
developing and rich economies is possible in the medium term.
The euro was at $1.2885 <EUR=>, having risen to $1.2918
earlier in the day, its highest since August 12.
The dollar index, a gauge of the greenback's performance
against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.1 percent
<.DXY> and the dollar fell slightly to 84.17 yen <JPY=>, not far
from a 15-year low of 83.58 hit late last month.
Euro zone government bond yields were flat to higher.
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash and Anirban Nag; Editing
by Ron Askew)
