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GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks rise, boosted by oil, U.S. GDP data

Published 27/02/2016, 03:36 am
© Reuters.  GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks rise, boosted by oil, U.S. GDP data
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* European stocks up 2 pct, helped by mining shares

* Dollar, U.S. yields rise as oil, stocks gain

* Oil touches seven-week high (Updates with opening of U.S. markets, previous dateline LONDON)

By Lewis Krauskopf

NEW YORK, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Global equity markets gained on Friday, backed by higher prices for oil and other commodities, while data showed the U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter.

U.S. gross domestic product growth was revised higher, to a 1.0 percent annual rate, while economists were expecting it to come in at 0.4 percent. robust U.S. economic report also boosted Treasury yields and the dollar.

Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 stock index .FTEU3 rose 2 percent, outperforming Wall Street, supported by a rally in mining shares as industrial metals such as copper CMCU3 and aluminium gained CMAL3 .

Benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 jumped to a seven-week high before paring gains.

With oil's steep 1-1/2-year slide, the performance of equities has been tightly linked to the commodity's daily fluctuations as investors say oil has been seen as a proxy for the health of the global economy. market is going to be all about oil and economic data," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 56.84 points, or 0.34 percent, to 16,754.13, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 9.56 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,961.26 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 28.00 points, or 0.61 percent, to 4,610.20.

With equity markets off to a slow start in 2016 amid concerns about an economic slowdown, investors are watching the next move from the U.S. Federal Reserve after the central bank raised rates in December.

ROSY DATA

Friday's encouraging economic data may be interpreted by investors as raising the chances for a rate hike, potentially pressuring stocks, said Walter Todd, chief investment officer with Greenwood Capital in South Carolina.

"I think better economic data is good regardless, but the market is nervous about the Fed moving too quickly," Todd said.

Investors were also eyeing a meeting of officials of G20 leading economies in Shanghai, where China sought to restore confidence in its economy, the world's second-biggest. equities rallied for a second day and touched a three-week high.

MSCI's gauge of global stock markets .MIWD00000PUS was up 0.5 percent.

Brent crude prices were on track for their first weekly gain in a month as strong U.S. gasoline demand and supply disruptions outweighed concerns about a fundamental glut. crude rose 3 percent to $36.34 a barrel, while U.S. crude CLc1 gained 1.8 percent to $33.67 a barrel.

Gains in oil along with the U.S. economic data helped push U.S. Treasury yields higher.

Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR were last down 21/32 in price to yield 1.7675 percent, up from 1.70 percent late Thursday.

"We got some pretty surprising GDP data, an upward revision, and not too many people had pegged that," said Thomas Simons, a money market economist at Jefferies LLC in New York.

The dollar .DXY gained 0.9 percent against a basket of six currencies, while the euro EUR= dropped 0.9 percent against the greenback.

"The fact that GDP was revised higher is a positive for the dollar this morning ... giving confidence to markets that the Fed may resume its tightening policy this year," said Sireen Harajli, currency strategist at Mizuho Bank Ltd in New York.

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