* MSCI Asia Ex-Japan up 0.8 pct
* European futures show shares expected to rise
* Oil touches highest level since November, nears $70 per barrel
* Sterling ticks up as May seeks further Brexit delay
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Andrew Galbraith
SHANGHAI, April 3 (Reuters) - Asian shares rose to fresh seven-month highs on Wednesday as investors cheered signs of progress in U.S.-China trade talks and brisk economic data, while oil approached the key $70 per barrel mark.
Shares in Europe were seen following Asia's lead, with London's FTSE futures FFIc1 adding 0.1 percent and Frankfurt's DAX futures FDXc1 jumping 0.7 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.8 percent on Wednesday afternoon in Asia, after earlier touching its highest level since late August.
The index has risen more than 3 percent since Thursday following reports of progress in trade talks between the United States and China, as well as reassuring factory activity data from China and the U.S.
The run of gains for stock markets worldwide has also pushed MSCI's key gauge of global equities .MIWD00000PUS to a six-month high. The global index was up more than 0.2 percent on Wednesday.
Hopes for a deal to end the trade war between the world's two largest economies were fanned by fresh comments from White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow that Washington expects "to make more headway" in talks this week. so, analysts struggled to point to a clear catalyst for the extended rally in equities.
"I think there's a tendency for markets at times to just want to be positive unless you hit them repeatedly, and not just with bad news, but with new bad news," said Rob Carnell, chief economist and head of Asia-Pacific research at ING in Singapore.
"There's been an awful lot of bad news priced in. So perhaps the absence of new negatives are enough to allow for a small sense of positivity to creep in," he said.
Australian shares .AXJO were up 0.7 percent and Japan's Nikkei stock index .N225 added 1 percent. Chinese blue-chips .CSI300 were 0.5 percent higher after a tentative start, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index .HSI added 0.9 percent.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.3 percent to 26,179.13 points, the S&P 500 .SPX was flat and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.25 percent to 7,848.69.
"After such a strong rise it is no surprise that the risk rally stalled a little," said Greg McKenna, strategist at McKenna Macro, in a morning note to clients.
But after a brief consolidation in risk sentiment, U.S. Treasury yields were once again ticking higher.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR yielded 2.5044 percent, up from a U.S. close of 2.479 percent on Tuesday, and the two-year yield US2YT=RR touched 2.3247 percent compared with a U.S. close of 2.308 percent.
Oil prices also stood near multi-month highs amid concerns about supply, with Brent crude LCOc1 rising as much as 0.72 percent to $69.87 per barrel, its highest since November and near the psychologically important level of $70 per barrel.
It was last up 0.52 percent at $69.73. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 rose 0.37 percent to $62.81 per barrel.
News that the United States is considering more sanctions against Iran, the fourth-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the halting of production at a crude terminal in Venezuela threatened to squeeze supply and pushed oil prices up on Tuesday. currency markets, the pound was about 0.1 percent higher at $1.3139 GBP= , having recovered its footing after British Prime Minister Theresa May said she would seek another delay to Brexit to work out an European Union divorce deal with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. dollar strengthened 0.06 percent against the yen to 111.38 JPY= and the euro EUR= added 0.18 percent to buy $1.1222.
The dollar index .DXY , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, eased 0.19 percent to 97.176.
Cryptocurrency bitcoin BTC= , which surged 18.7 percent on Tuesday following a major order by an anonymous buyer, extended its gains by another 1.2 percent to $4,958.98.
Spot gold XAU= gained 0.05 percent to trade at $1,293.38 per ounce. GOL/
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