* MSCI World Index gains 0.2%
* European shares flat
* Brent crude up 5%
* Dollar heads for two-week lows before Fed
* Fed statement due around 1800 GMT
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Tom Wilson
LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - World shares eked out slim
gains on Wednesday, with optimism over economies easing
coronavirus lockdowns and rebounding oil prices leavened by a
mixed picture on corporate earnings.
MSCI's world equity index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks
shares in 49 countries, ticked up 0.1%, with European shares
flat by late morning in choppy trading.
Wall Street futures ESc1 were up 0.7%, helped by
forecast-beating revenues from Alphabet Inc's Google GOOGL.O .
The broad Euro STOXX 600 .STOXX lost grounds as defensive
stocks - sectors such as healthcare .SXDP and personal and
household goods .SXQP - dropped between 1% and 1.7%.
Major drugmakers Roche ROG.S and Novartis NOVN.S fell
2.5% and 1.4% respectively, balanced by gains for BP BP.L ,
Total TOTF.PA and Royal Dutch Sell RDSA.AS as crude prices
climbed as much as 15%.
Major indexes were varied: Frankfurt .GDAXI gained 0.3%
while Paris .FCHI slipped 0.4%. London's benchmark .FTSE
rose 0.7%, boosted by gains for lenders Barclays BARC.L and
Standard Chartered STAN.L .
"The market is broadly buying stocks on the hope of the
recovery and focusing on the eventual winners of this part of
the cycle related to COVID-19, and then the structural winners,"
said Sebastien Galy, a strategist at Nordea.
Riskier assets, including equities, have rallied for most of
this month thanks to heavy doses of fiscal and monetary policy
stimulus around the globe aimed at softening the economic blow
from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Investors across the world are growing confident the
pandemic may be peaking as parts of the United States, Europe
and Australia gradually ease restrictions. New Zealand this week
allowed some businesses to reopen.
Still, Europe's quarterly results have continued to
deteriorate, with Refinitiv data pointing to a 40.4% decline in
earnings for companies listed on the STOXX 600, versus 37% a
week ago.
Airbus AIR.PA posted a 49% slump in first-quarter core
profit, with planemakers, airlines and suppliers have been left
reeling by the pandemic. Some bright spots were evident, though.
German automaker Volkswagen VOWGp.DE said it expected a
full-year profit even after a plunge in first-quarter earnings
and Daimler DAIGn.DE was also eyeing an operating profit for
its Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans unit. Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS gained 1% to a near two-month
peak.
CRUDE REBOUNDS
Hopes the moves would help revive energy demand sent U.S.
crude futures CLc1 up about 15% to $14.12 a barrel, paring a
27% plunge over the first two days of this week. O/R
Brent crude LCOc1 futures rose 5% to $21.47 a barrel.
The moves also emboldened bets on riskier currencies,
keeping the dollar on the back foot, with the greenback falling
0.1% to 99.760 against a basket of currencies =USD .
The euro EUR= was flat at $1.0860, though the euro index
=EUR eased after Fitch cut Italy's credit rating to BBB-, just
one notch above "junk" status. Italy's government bond yields
rose after the cut. Some analysts were circumspect about the rally in stocks,
noting a concentration among tech and IT stocks.
"We were actually seeing a big dislocation in performance in
the new world - the tech thing - and the old economy of
industrials reliant on human costs," said Olivier Marciot,
portfolio manager at Unigestion.
Investors are now watching out for results from the other
major tech firms including Amazon AMZN.O and Apple AAPL.O .
Earnings from Facebook FB.O and Microsoft Corp MSFT.O are
due later in the day.
The gains have come even as analysts predict a sharp
contraction in world growth.
Moody's expects economies of the group of 20 advanced
nations (G20) to shrink 5.8% this year with momentum unlikely to
recover to pre-coronavirus levels even in 2021.
Markets were next looking for any guidance from the U.S.
Federal Reserve, which is due to issue a policy statement around
1800 GMT after its two-day meeting. The European Central Bank
meets on Thursday. Analysts said it was unlikely the Fed would make further
major policy moves, given the scope and depth of its efforts to
counter the economic damage caused by the coronavirus.
For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock
markets, please click on: LIVE/
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Global assets 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
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