GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares reaching peaks, dollar in trough

*
* Ex-Japan Asia shares hit record high
* FTSE hits eight-month high
* U.S. stock futures up, rebounding after Pfizer report hit
* Dollar close to 2 1/2-year low vs euro, 3-mth low vs
sterling

By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - World shares held at record highs
on Friday, buoyed by growing prospects of a U.S. economic
stimulus package, while desire for riskier assets kept the
safe-haven dollar at a two-and-a-half-year low.
A bipartisan, $908 billion coronavirus aid plan gained
momentum in the U.S. Congress on Thursday as conservative
lawmakers expressed their support. "A deal before the year-end looked almost impossible a while
back, but now a package of around $1 trillion seems within
reach," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at
Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected to tweak guidance
on its asset-purchase scheme later this month. The European
Central Bank looks certain to increase its bond buying next
week.
MSCI's world share index .MIWD00000PUS ticked up 0.1%
towards the previous day's record high. It is set for a fifth
straight week of gains, which have seen it surge 15%.
Asian shares hit their own record high overnight. MSCI's
broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.82%, surpassing its Nov. 25 high, led by
gains in the tech sector .MIAPJIT00PUS . Japan's Nikkei .N225
dipped 0.22% on profit-taking.
Europe then saw Britain's FTSE 100 index .FTSE reach
nine-month highs and euro zone stocks .STOXX at similar
levels. German government bond yields DE10YT=RR - which move
inversely to price - struck a three-day low of -0.557%.
The British pound changed hands at $1.3116 GBP=D3 , having
hit a three-month high on Thursday with traders hoping for a
trade deal between the European Union and Britain.
But as talks continued to secure the Brexit deal before a
transition period expires at the end of the month, a British
minister said on Friday the talks were in a difficult phase,
indicating chances of a breakthrough were receding. France could
veto a bad deal, a French minister said. PAYROLLS
In New York, the S&P 500 .SPX erased earlier gains after
the Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer PFE.N had cut in
half the target for rolling out its COVID-19 vaccine because of
problems in its supply chain. The damage did not last long, with S&P500 futures ESc1
gaining 0.19% in early Friday trade.
The focus now is on key U.S. non-farm payrolls data at 1330
GMT, forecast to show a rise of 469,000 in November, according
to a Reuters poll.
The upbeat mood saw the U.S. dollar lose ground to other
major currencies.
"One of the elements of the better news we are getting, for
instance the vaccine, is to increase the attraction of risky
assets and that reduces the appetite for the U.S. dollar," said
Eric Brard, head of fixed income at asset manager Amundi.
The euro rose 0.12% to $1.2155 EUR= , near the highest
levels since April 2018 it reached the day before and a weekly
gain of 1.5%. The dollar was flat against a basket of currencies
=USD .
Emerging markets were continuing their gains. The Mexican
peso, Brazilian real, Turkish lira, South African rand, Russian
rouble and Polish zloty have all jumped 7% to 11% over the past
month, adding to 5%-12% leaps in China, Taiwan and Korea's
currencies since June.
In commodities, oil prices got an additional lift after OPEC
and Russia agreed to reduce their deep oil output cuts from
January by 500,000 barrels per day. They failed to find a
compromise on a broader and longer-term policy. The increase means the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries and Russia, a group known as OPEC+, would
move to cut production by 7.2 million barrels per day, or 7% of
global demand from January, compared with current cuts of 7.7
million barrels per day.
Brent crude rose as high as $49.92 per barrel LCOc1 , its
highest price since early March, and last stood at $49.64, up
1.9%.

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World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
Global fund flows into equity sectors https://tmsnrt.rs/2IdlRUU
Asset performance in dollar terms https://tmsnrt.rs/33H97NV
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