World stocks rise on Dow rally, IMF growth upgrade

[July 08, 2010]  BANGKOK (AP) -- World markets climbed Thursday as investors snapped up beaten down stocks amid a higher global growth forecast from the IMF and U.S. bank State Street's robust profit forecast.

Sentiment turned upbeat after the Dow Jones industrial average surged 274.66 points, or 2.8 percent, to 10,018.28 on Wednesday -- finishing above 10,000 for the first time since late June. The State Street profit forecast boosted financial stocks and relieved some of the worries about the upcoming quarterly earnings.

More positive news came from the IMF raising its 2010 global growth forecast to 4.6 percent from 4.1 percent amid what it called a faster-than-expected economic recovery. Yet the Washington-based fund said Europe's debt crisis could stall the rebound and urged governments to shore up fragile confidence.

As trading got started in Europe, benchmarks in Britain and France were up about 1 percent while Germany's DAX was up 0.5 percent. Wall Street futures augured modest profit taking in the U.S. with Dow futures off 26 points, or 0.3 percent, at 9,954.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index jumped 256.09, or 2.8 percent, to 9,535.74 and South Korea's Kospi added 1.4 percent to 1,698.64. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 2.4 percent to 4,356.70.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1 percent to 20,050.50. Benchmarks in Singapore, Indonesia, India and Taiwan were also higher while China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped slightly.

Some analysts cautioned that markets are likely to stay volatile as significant doubts remain about the durability of the global economic recovery. There are signs from Europe to Asia to the U.S. that growth is slowing and some fear a repeat of last year's recession.

"It's too early to tell whether the market has bottomed out because there are simply no positive changes happening on either the capital or economic level," said Zhang Xiang, an analyst for Guodu Securities in Beijing.

In currencies, the dollar rose to 88.18 yen from 87.76 yen in New York late Wednesday. The euro climbed to $1.2647 from $1.2633.

Benchmark crude for August delivery was up 66 cents to $74.73 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.09 to settle at $74.07 on Wednesday.

[Associated Press]

Associated Press researcher Bonnie Cao in Beijing contributed to this report.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.