* Euro STOXX 600 up 0.3%
* Asia-Pacific shares gain 0.6%
* Trump says trade talks "moving right along"
* Dec. 15 deadline for new U.S. tariffs looms
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Tom Wilson
LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - World shares ticked up on Friday,
buoyed by comments from U.S. President Donald Trump that talks
aimed at dialling down the damaging trade war with China were
"moving right along".
Trump's relatively upbeat tone in comments on Thursday was
enough to encourage riskier bets by investors, despite a lack of
agreement over whether existing tariffs should be dropped as
part of an initial deal to ease the long standoff. European shares, including the broader Euro STOXX 600
.STOXX gained 0.3% in early trade, with indexes in Frankfurt
.GDAXI and Paris .FCHI up by similar amounts.
The cautiously buoyant mood mirrored an appetite for riskier
bets in Asia, where MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.5%.
The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks
shares in 47 countries, added 0.2% to 554.91 points, not far off
a record high of 550.63 hit last January but still on track for
a weekly fall.
Investors were hoping the two sides can reach a compromise
to at least avoid their worst fear: that the United States goes
ahead with its final batch of tariffs on about $156 billion of
Chinese exports, due to take effect on Dec. 15.
Trump's remarks came after Chinese officials reiterated
demands that some U.S. tariffs be rolled back if the sides are
to reach a so-called phase one deal.
Markets had expected the sides to seal the initial deal in
November. Instead, investors are nervously watching the
approaching deadline for the new U.S. levies.
"The difficulty with this is it's very difficult to time and
to trade," said Jeremy Gatto, a multi-asset investment manager
at Unigestion. "We are relatively favourable towards riskier
assets in general - but with hedges."
Gatto said those hedges include currencies such as the U.S.
dollar, Japanese yen and Australian dollar, as well as options.
Investors have already taken precautions against a possible
slide in stocks by buying put options, with demand for "put"
options to hedge exposure to the S&P500 .SPX index climbing in
recent days.
In one sign of detente, China said it would waive import
tariffs imposed last year on some U.S. soybean and pork
shipments. Beijing is rushing to source more meat to fill a gap
in protein supplies. China stocks posted their biggest weekly advance in nearly
two months, with the blue-chips .CSI300 up 0.6%. Investors were looking out for U.S. jobs data, due out at
1330 GMT. The non-farm payrolls report is expected to show
180,000 new jobs were created in November, up from 128,000 a
month earlier.
Signs of buoyancy in the labour market would soothe anxiety
over the impact of the trade war.
"Markets are in consolidation phase," said Salman Ahmed,
chief investment strategist at Lombard Odier. "It's wait and
watch for first, how does the non-farm payrolls look and, more
importantly, the Dec. 15 tariff deadline."
In other economic data, German industrial output fell
unexpectedly in October, pointing to persistent weakness in the
backbone of the economy. Berlin said, however, that new orders
and business expectations suggest output may stabilise.
While markets have largely priced in the view that the world
economy has dodged the bullet of recession, there are still
signs of fragility in many major economies.
OIL SKIDS
Oil lost ground as investors awaited a meeting of OPEC and
its allies later on Friday, which is expected to formally agree
to more output curbs in early 2020.
Details of the agreement and how the cuts will be
distributed among producers still need to be ratified at a
meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC nations, otherwise known as OPEC+,
in Vienna. Brent crude LCOc1 futures were flat at $63.46 a barrel
after earlier gaining ground.
The agreement coincided with the initial public offering of
state oil firm Saudi Aramco, which was priced at the top of its
range and raised $25.6 billion in the world's biggest IPO.
In currencies, the British pound GBP=D3 stepped back some
0.2%. Sterling spiked to a seven-month high of $1.3166 on
Thursday on bets that next week's election will give the
Conservative party the majority it needs to deliver Brexit,
ending near-term uncertainty. The pound last stood at $1.313. It hit 2-1/2-year highs
versus the euro EURGBP= .
Against a basket of currencies .DXY the dollar has dropped
every day this week, falling to a one-month low of 97.356 on
Thursday. The index was last down a smidgeon at 97.370 and has
lost nearly 1% this week.
For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock
markets, please click on: LIVE/