(Updates with open of U.S. markets, changes dateline from London)
* Wall St holds steady as investors await big earnings
* Copper hits 4-1/2 month high after China data
* Dollar touches 10-month low against currency basket
* U.S. yields flat to slightly higher in thin trading
By Lewis Krauskopf
NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) - A gauge of world stocks hit a record high on Monday while copper prices surged to their highest levels in more than four months after robust growth data in China.
China's economy expanded at a faster-than-expected 6.9 percent clip in the second quarter, setting the country on course to comfortably meet its 2017 growth target. prices were also buoyed as the dollar fell to a 10-month low before steadying.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS hit a two-year high, as MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS gained 0.13 percent and set a record.
Wall Street opened slightly higher as investors braced for a flood of second-quarter earnings reports later in the week.
"The market from a big picture perspective is just waiting on earnings," said Walter Todd, chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital Associates in Greenwood, South Carolina. "Can companies continue to follow through with what was a very good earnings season in Q1? I think that's what investors are looking for."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 10.93 points, or 0.05 percent, to 21,648.67, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 2.38 points, or 0.10 percent, to 2,461.65 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 3.61 points, or 0.06 percent, to 6,316.08.
Shares of BlackRock BLK.N fell 3.1 pct after the quarterly report from the world's biggest asset manager fell short of Wall Street's forecasts. expect that earnings for S&P 500 companies rose 8.2 percent in the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Emerging market stocks rose 0.37 percent.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 lost 0.03 percent. Shares of miners Anglo American AAL.L and Glencore GLEN.L gained, supported by the strong China data and rising copper prices. CMCU3 rose 1.52 percent to $6,016.00 a tonne, touching its highest level since early March. other commodities, U.S. crude CLcv1 fell 0.09 percent to $46.50 per barrel and Brent LCOcv1 was last at $48.90, down 0.02 percent on the day.
Fewer drilling rigs were added in the United States last week, helping ease concerns that surging shale supplies will undermine OPEC-led production cuts. were also digesting U.S. data from Friday pointing to tame inflation and soft domestic demand that diminished prospects of a third interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve this year. Treasury yields were little changed to slightly higher, trading in narrow ranges, after a fairly volatile week. still trading off the weak inflation and retail sales data from Friday, although the market is trying to figure what to do next," said Gennadiy Goldberg, interest rates strategist, at TD Securities in New York.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last fell 3/32 in price to yield 2.3283 percent, from 2.319 percent late on Friday.
The dollar .DXY was flat against a basket of currencies after falling to a 10-month low earlier in the session. The euro EUR= up 0.04 percent at $1.1472. Global assets in 2017
http://reut.rs/1WAiOSC Global currencies vs. dollar
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh Global interest rates
http://tmsnrt.rs/2iejmA8 Emerging markets in 2017
http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>