* Dovish Powell, weak jobs data quell inflation jitters
* S&P 500 jumps to record high as U.S. yields retreat
* Dollar index eyes worst week of year on lower bond yields
* China shares slide as price data spur tightening worries
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - Global stocks hit record highs on Friday, as tech shares on Wall Street cheered receding U.S. inflation fears, with the lack of inflation pressure keeping bond yields near two-week lows.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated late on Thursday that inflation was not a worry, following data showing an unexpected rise in the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits.
MSCI's broadest gauge of world stocks .MIWD00000PUS set a record high in Asian trading, though it was down 0.1% at 0755 GMT. The index has gained more than 1.5% this week.
"As long as monetary stimulus is easy, as long as fiscal policy is easy, any hiccups in stocks are probably only going to find buyers," said Giles Coghlan, chief currency analyst at HYCM.
Emini futures ESc1 were steady after the S&P 500 .SPX rose 0.42% to a record high, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 1.03%.
Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE hit its highest in more than a year, bringing gains for the week to nearly 3%, helped by the country's speedy vaccine rollout. .L
German stocks .GDAXI dipped 0.22%.
Powell signalled at an IMF event that the central bank was nowhere near reducing support for the U.S. economy, saying that while economic reopening could result in higher prices temporarily, it will not constitute inflation. Bank analysts said the comments "offered fresh reassurance to investors who'd begun to price in earlier rate increases on the back of some very strong economic data in recent weeks".
Traders piled into megacap tech stocks such as Apple Inc AAPL.O , Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , which were the main drivers of the S&P 500.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields US10YT=RR held close to Thursday's two-week trough near 1.6%.
Yields had surged to the highest since Jan 2020 at 1.776% at the end of March as a string of strong U.S. economic data stoked fears of a spike in inflation that could force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than policymakers had so far signalled.
German 10-year bond yields DE10YT=RR rose 2 basis points, moving away from the previous session's 10-day lows.
The U.S. dollar index =USD gained 0.2% but was set for its worst week of the year, weighed down by lower Treasury yields. The euro EUR= dipped 0.2% after hitting two-week highs in the previous session.
The CBOE volatility index hit its lowest since Feb 2020 at 16.55.
In Asia, Japan's Topix .TOPX gained 0.6% and Australian stocks .AXJO hovered near a 13-month high, while South Korea's Kospi .KS11 touched the highest intraday level since mid-February.
Chinese shares .CSI300 , however, slid 1.5%, as robust domestic inflation data raised worries over policy tightening.
Factory gate prices rose at their fastest annual pace since July 2018 in March. prices edged down as investors weighed rising supplies from major producers and the impact on fuel demand from the COVID-19 pandemic. crude CLc1 fell 0.35% to $59.38 a barrel, while Brent LCOc1 lost 0.5% to $62.87 a barrel.
Spot gold XAU= fell 0.5% to $1,747 an ounce after jumping to a more than one-month peak of $1,758 on Thursday.
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http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl Global currencies vs. dollar
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh Emerging markets
http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV MSCI All Country World Index Market Cap
http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j Dollar set for worst week of the year
https://tmsnrt.rs/3mvEAdU
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