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* Ex-Japan Asia shares hit record high
* FTSE hits eight-month high
* U.S. stock futures up, rebounding after Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) report hit
* Dollar close to 2 1/2-year low vs euro, 3-mth low vs sterling
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - World shares held at record highs on Friday, buoyed by growing prospects of a U.S. economic stimulus package, while desire for riskier assets kept the safe-haven dollar at a two-and-a-half-year low.
A bipartisan, $908 billion coronavirus aid plan gained momentum in the U.S. Congress on Thursday as conservative lawmakers expressed their support. deal before the year-end looked almost impossible a while back, but now a package of around $1 trillion seems within reach," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Securities.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected to tweak guidance on its asset-purchase scheme later this month. The European Central Bank looks certain to increase its bond buying next week.
MSCI's world share index .MIWD00000PUS ticked up 0.1% towards the previous day's record high. It is set for a fifth straight week of gains, which have seen it surge 15%.
Asian shares hit their own record high overnight. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.82%, surpassing its Nov. 25 high, led by gains in the tech sector .MIAPJIT00PUS . Japan's Nikkei .N225 dipped 0.22% on profit-taking.
Europe then saw Britain's FTSE 100 index .FTSE reach nine-month highs and euro zone stocks .STOXX at similar levels. German government bond yields DE10YT=RR - which move inversely to price - struck a three-day low of -0.557%.
The British pound changed hands at $1.3116 GBP=D3 , having hit a three-month high on Thursday with traders hoping for a trade deal between the European Union and Britain.
But as talks continued to secure the Brexit deal before a transition period expires at the end of the month, a British minister said on Friday the talks were in a difficult phase, indicating chances of a breakthrough were receding. France could veto a bad deal, a French minister said. PAYROLLS
In New York, the S&P 500 .SPX erased earlier gains after the Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer PFE.N had cut in half the target for rolling out its COVID-19 vaccine because of problems in its supply chain. damage did not last long, with S&P500 futures ESc1 gaining 0.19% in early Friday trade.
The focus now is on key U.S. non-farm payrolls data at 1330 GMT, forecast to show a rise of 469,000 in November, according to a Reuters poll.
The upbeat mood saw the U.S. dollar lose ground to other major currencies.
"One of the elements of the better news we are getting, for instance the vaccine, is to increase the attraction of risky assets and that reduces the appetite for the U.S. dollar," said Eric Brard, head of fixed income at asset manager Amundi.
The euro rose 0.12% to $1.2155 EUR= , near the highest levels since April 2018 it reached the day before and a weekly gain of 1.5%. The dollar was flat against a basket of currencies =USD .
Emerging markets were continuing their gains. The Mexican peso, Brazilian real, Turkish lira, South African rand, Russian rouble and Polish zloty have all jumped 7% to 11% over the past month, adding to 5%-12% leaps in China, Taiwan and Korea's currencies since June. commodities, oil prices got an additional lift after OPEC and Russia agreed to reduce their deep oil output cuts from January by 500,000 barrels per day. They failed to find a compromise on a broader and longer-term policy. increase means the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia, a group known as OPEC+, would move to cut production by 7.2 million barrels per day, or 7% of global demand from January, compared with current cuts of 7.7 million barrels per day.
Brent crude rose as high as $49.92 per barrel LCOc1 , its highest price since early March, and last stood at $49.64, up 1.9%.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ World FX rates in 2020
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh 2020 asset performance
http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn Global fund flows into equity sectors
https://tmsnrt.rs/2IdlRUU Asset performance in dollar terms
https://tmsnrt.rs/33H97NV
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