London: World shares rose on Tuesday as technology giant Apple Inc's biggest rise in over two months and oil's march higher to near $50 per barrel boosted investor demand for riskier assets at the expense of safe-haven bonds.
MSCI's index of global shares rose 0.2 per cent, putting it on track for its second consecutive rise, something it has not managed in a month.
Europe's major stock markets rose as much as 1 per cent before easing back, following similar gains in Asia after Wall Street had also chalked up a 1 per cent rise on Monday.
The rally lost some steam, however, and US stock futures pared earlier gains to signal a rise of around 0.1 per cent at the open on Wall Street.
"Markets are once again up on higher commodity prices. Nevertheless, we should not get carried away and chase the commodity complex higher as most of these markets are still very much over-supplied," said Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis.
Brent crude oil futures rose to their highest level in almost six months, within a few cents of breaking above $50 for the first time since November 4, before drifting back below $49 by midday in Europe.
At 1100 GMT (4:30 p.m. in India), the FTSEuroFirst 300 index of leading European shares was up 0.5 per cent at 1,321 points, with Germany's DAX up 0.2 per cent, France's CAC 40 up 0.1 per cent and Britain's FTSE 100 gaining 0.5 per cent.
The basic resources sector was among the biggest sectoral gainers, up 1 per cent.
Earlier in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.9 per cent, extending its recovery from a two-month low set on Friday. Japan's Nikkei gained about 1.1 per cent.
Fool's black gold
Oil's rise to six-month highs came as supply disruptions prompted long-time bear Goldman Sachs to issue a bullish assessment on near-term prices. Goldman has long warned of global storage hitting capacity and of another oil price crash to as low as $20 per barrel.
A combination of Nigerian, Venezuelan and other outages, declining US production, and virtually frozen inflows of Canadian crude after wildfires in Alberta's oil sands region all helped to lift oil prices.
"The oil market continues to make an even larger fool of most forecasters than other financial assets: having caught everyone out by plummeting, it is now catching us out by continuing to rise," Rabobank analysts wrote.
Brent crude futures rose as high as $49.31 per barrel on Tuesday, after having risen 2.4 per cent on Monday, touching $49.47, the highest since early November. By midday, however, they had slipped back to $48.84.
US crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose to $48.42 before giving back most of that rise, having risen 3.3 per cent on Monday.
Shares in Apple finished 3.7 per cent higher on Monday after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reported taking a stake of about $1 billion in the iPhone maker. Apple shares had lost about one-fifth of their value in the past month on worries about the company's slowing sales growth.
In the currency market, the British pound rose 0.6 per cent to $1.45 helped in part by a report that the "In" campaign held a 15-point lead over rival "Out" ahead of Britain's June 23 referendum on European Union membership.
The dollar was little changed against the euro at $1.1320, but rose 0.5 per cent against the yen to 109.50 yen as investors took a 'risk on' stance on Tuesday.
The Australian dollar rose 1 per cent to a high of $0.7366, its best day in over a month, after minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's May policy meeting were less dovish in tone than many investors had expected.
Bond yields were mostly higher, with US yields up a basis point across the curve and benchmark Eurozone yields up around 2 basis points.
MSCI's index of global shares rose 0.2 per cent, putting it on track for its second consecutive rise, something it has not managed in a month.
Europe's major stock markets rose as much as 1 per cent before easing back, following similar gains in Asia after Wall Street had also chalked up a 1 per cent rise on Monday.
The rally lost some steam, however, and US stock futures pared earlier gains to signal a rise of around 0.1 per cent at the open on Wall Street.
"Markets are once again up on higher commodity prices. Nevertheless, we should not get carried away and chase the commodity complex higher as most of these markets are still very much over-supplied," said Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis.
Brent crude oil futures rose to their highest level in almost six months, within a few cents of breaking above $50 for the first time since November 4, before drifting back below $49 by midday in Europe.
At 1100 GMT (4:30 p.m. in India), the FTSEuroFirst 300 index of leading European shares was up 0.5 per cent at 1,321 points, with Germany's DAX up 0.2 per cent, France's CAC 40 up 0.1 per cent and Britain's FTSE 100 gaining 0.5 per cent.
The basic resources sector was among the biggest sectoral gainers, up 1 per cent.
Earlier in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.9 per cent, extending its recovery from a two-month low set on Friday. Japan's Nikkei gained about 1.1 per cent.
Fool's black gold
Oil's rise to six-month highs came as supply disruptions prompted long-time bear Goldman Sachs to issue a bullish assessment on near-term prices. Goldman has long warned of global storage hitting capacity and of another oil price crash to as low as $20 per barrel.
A combination of Nigerian, Venezuelan and other outages, declining US production, and virtually frozen inflows of Canadian crude after wildfires in Alberta's oil sands region all helped to lift oil prices.
"The oil market continues to make an even larger fool of most forecasters than other financial assets: having caught everyone out by plummeting, it is now catching us out by continuing to rise," Rabobank analysts wrote.
Brent crude futures rose as high as $49.31 per barrel on Tuesday, after having risen 2.4 per cent on Monday, touching $49.47, the highest since early November. By midday, however, they had slipped back to $48.84.
US crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose to $48.42 before giving back most of that rise, having risen 3.3 per cent on Monday.
Shares in Apple finished 3.7 per cent higher on Monday after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reported taking a stake of about $1 billion in the iPhone maker. Apple shares had lost about one-fifth of their value in the past month on worries about the company's slowing sales growth.
In the currency market, the British pound rose 0.6 per cent to $1.45 helped in part by a report that the "In" campaign held a 15-point lead over rival "Out" ahead of Britain's June 23 referendum on European Union membership.
The dollar was little changed against the euro at $1.1320, but rose 0.5 per cent against the yen to 109.50 yen as investors took a 'risk on' stance on Tuesday.
The Australian dollar rose 1 per cent to a high of $0.7366, its best day in over a month, after minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's May policy meeting were less dovish in tone than many investors had expected.
Bond yields were mostly higher, with US yields up a basis point across the curve and benchmark Eurozone yields up around 2 basis points.
© Thomson Reuters 2016
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