* Euro steadies on hopes Greek bailout is close
* Investors still cautious as details of rescue awaited
* Stocks also buoyed by robust U.S. earnings
* Asia shares up 0.8 pct, oil gains on weaker dollar
SYDNEY, April 30 (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday and the
euro steadied on hopes that a fractious European Union will
agree on a bailout package for Greece within days as it
struggles to keep the debt crisis from spreading to other weak
countries. Shares were also buoyed by strong earnings
reports from major U.S. companies, which pushed up Wall Street
stocks and bolstered hopes that the world's largest economy was
picking up steam, tempering worries about weakness in Europe.
Hopes that the fractious European Union will agree on a
bailout package for Greece as soon as Monday []
and prevent the debt crisis from taking down other weak
countries such as Spain and Portugal kept the euro <EUR=>
steady at $1.3237.
That helped support commodity prices, with gold spiking to
the year's highs.
The optimism looks set to carry over in European trade,
with Britain's FTSE 100 <> and Germany's DAX <> seen
opening slightly higher, while France's CAC-40 <> was seen
mixed.
"The Greek situation is well flagged and well known," said
Alex Boggis, director of Aberdeen Asset Management in Hong
Kong. "In the short term, no one is immune to bad news, but in
the long term, Asia is much better off."
Asian shares outside of Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 0.8
percent, and were on track for a 0.8 percent gain on the month.
Underscoring investor confidence in Asia, Indonesian stocks
<> climbed 0.9 percent to a record high.
Japan's Nikkei <> rose 1.2 percent after being shut
for a holiday on Thursday, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index
<> climbed 1.1 percent after three sessions in the red, as
selling pressure eased on Europe's largest lender HSBC
<0005.HK>.
HSBC rose 1.5 percent amid hopes that Greece could avert a
disastrous default.
"We should see some long-term capital coming back to stocks
now that worries over Greece are easing," said Francis Lun of
Fulbright Securities.
Indeed, data from fund tracker EPFR showed suggests
investors are anything but risk averse as they pour more money
into emerging market equity and debt funds.
The data showed even Greek equities managed to pull in a
net $3.75 million, a paltry sum, but still notable given
Greece's sovereign rating was downgraded to junk status on
Tuesday. []
To be sure, there was a steady flow of positive news out on
Friday to encourage investors.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS>, the world's top
maker of memory chips and flat screen televisions, predicted
record profits. Its shares rose 3.2 percent. []
Billionaire Warren Buffett also said in an interview with
Fox Business Network that Berkshire Hathaway Inc <BRKa.N>
<BRKb.N> had a big upswing in all of its U.S. and Asian
businesses since March. []
U.S. data out on Friday may support Buffett's remarks.
Data is expected to show a resurgence in U.S. consumer
spending that would put the world's biggest economy on a path
of sustainable recovery, even though growth probably slowed in
the first quarter. []
HIGHLY FLUID
Still, the currency market does not seem to be wavering
from its heavy bets against the euro.
Traders said they were still bearish on the common
currency, noting that Greece faced a painful, multi-year crisis
which is likely to test EU unity repeatedly.
Even if the rescue package is convincing, markets will
remain worried about other heavily indebted EU members such as
Portugal and Spain.
German politicians have said the bailout could be worth
100-120 billion euros ($133-160 billion) over three years, two
to three times the size of an original rescue plan for aid in
2010.
"The situation ... remains highly fluid with FX markets
trading on headlines as they hit the wires," JP Morgan said in
a note.
"We remain cautious in our view towards the euro precisely
for this reason but remain more confident in being short where
there is a strong macro fundamental reason to do so."
The euro hovered at $1.3260, from $1.3242 late in New York
on Thursday. For the month, the euro lost 2 percent, its fifth
consecutive month of losses.
Economists said euro zone states could end up footing a
bill of half a trillion euros ($650 billion) to save several
nations if they fail to calm markets with a Greek bailout.
Germany in particular has baulked at helping out less
fiscally responsible EU members.
Sterling, the other major currency that has suffered a
sharp selloff this year, managed however to rise 1.1 percent in
April. Still, worries that Britain may be stuck with a hung
parliament after next week's elections could cap gains in
coming days.
The pound was at $1.5364 <GBP=>, up from $1.5322 in NY.
U.S. crude oil futures extended gains above $85 a barrel as
the euro continued to gain against the dollar, lowering costs
for market players who use the currency to trade the
dollar-denominated commodity.
Gold spiked just over 1 percent to around $1,173 an ounce
on signs investors were ploughing more capital into bullion
markets to hedge against problems in Europe.
The dollar was little changed against a basket of major
global currencies.
(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag)
(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing in SYDNEY and Kim Coghill in
SINGAPORE; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
