GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia shares gain as BOJ eases further; U.S. crude slips

* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Nikkei rises on BOJ pledge to buy unlimited bonds
* Fed and ECB to meet later in week
* Raft of major U.S. corporate earnings due this week
* Oil prices fall anew as world runs short of storage space

By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY, April 27 (Reuters) - Asian shares bounced on Monday
as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced more stimulus steps to
help cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus, while oil
took another spill as the world ran short of space to store it
all.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS rose 1.2% in early trade, taking back some of
last week's 2.6% decline. Japan's Nikkei .N225 gained 2.1%,
and Chinese blue chips .CSI300 1%.
E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 rose 0.4%, while
EUROSTOXX 50 futures STXEc1 added 1.8% and FTSE futures
FFIc1 1.2%.
The BOJ matched market speculation by pledging to buy
unlimited amounts of government bonds, removing its previous
target of 80 trillion yen per year. It raised purchases of corporate and commercial debt, and
eased rules for what debt would qualify.
The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank meet later
in the week, with the latter likely to do more.
"For the Fed, no further developments on QE or interest
rates are expected, but we expect it to underline that its
policies will be in place indefinitely to support the economy,"
ANZ wrote in a research note.
"We expect the ECB to raise the size of its emergency bond
buying package (PEPP) by around 500 billion euros to 1.250
trillion and to continue pressing for a sizeable fiscal
stimulus."
On the data front, the United States and European Union
release GDP for the first quarter and the influential U.S. ISM
survey on manufacturing.
Earnings season will be in full swing with around 173
companies in the S&P 500 reporting this week, including Apple,
Amazon FB.O , Microsoft MSFT.O , Caterpillar
CAT.N , Ford F.N , General Electric GE.N and Chevron
CVX.N .
Analysts expect a 15% decline in S&P 500 first-quarter
earnings, with profits for the energy sector estimated to slump
more than 60%, raising fears of debt defaults, layoffs and
possible bankruptcies. Bond markets remain well supported by the truly massive
easing under way from major central banks, which have seen U.S.
10-year yields US10YT=RR trade around 0.6% for a week or more.
The dollar has been generally bid thanks to its safe haven
status as the world's most liquid currency at times of stress,
though moves have been relatively mild in recent weeks.
The dollar index touched a three-week high at 100.860 on
Friday before easing back to 100.150 on Monday =USD .
The euro was steady at $1.0823 EUR= , having hit a
one-month low of $1.0725 on Friday, while the dollar was flat on
the yen at 107.34 JPY= . USD/
Gold held at $1,722 per ounce XAU= , after gaining 2.5%
last week. GOL/
Oil prices looked set for another volatile week, having
fallen in eight of the last nine weeks. U.S. crude even traded
below zero last week as demand collapsed 30% due to the
pandemic, leaving more oil than could be stored. O/R
U.S. crude CLc1 slid $1.33 to $13.61, while Brent crude
LCOc1 futures slipped 8 cents to $21.36 a barrel.

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(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)