(Adds U.S. market open, byline, dateline; previous LONDON)
* World stocks hover near record highs, best year since 2009
* Hopes for monetary easing lift China shares
* Gold futures soar past $1,500 an ounce
* U.S. Treasury yields, dollar edge down
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Gold surged past $1,500 an
ounce and a gauge of global equity markets hovered near record
highs on Tuesday in a year-end rally spurred by hopes of a
U.S.-Sino Phase 1 trade deal and as China's latest policy easing
pledge added to investor optimism.
President Donald Trump said he and Chinese President Xi
Jinping will have a ceremony to sign the initial phase of the
pending trade pact, the latest remarks by the U.S. leader to
indicate the deal is on the verge of being finalized.
European stocks ground out fresh record gains as did the
Nasdaq after Wall Street opened with equities remaining on track
to post their best year in a decade.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX added 0.12% to
touch an all-time high and the domestically focused mid-cap
index .FTMC in Britain outshone, rising 0.6% to hit a new
high.
France's CAC 40 .FCHI and Spain's IBEX 35 .IBEX both
closed little changed, while German, Italian and Swiss country
indexes were closed for the day.
Blue-chip shares in China .CSI300 rose 0.7% after Premier
Li Keqiang said the government was considering more measures to
lower corporate financing costs and hinted at "targeted" cuts in
banks' reserve requirement ratio. Gold surging past $1,500 an ounce was big news in a quiet
pre-Christmas session, and a sign that investors may be hedging
against a possible inflation hike next year, said Michael Arone,
chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors in
Boston.
"Even today with lighter volumes and high absenteeism, gold
has breached $1,500 and energy stocks are starting to rise a
little bit," Arone said.
"It's hard to take too much away on a day like today. But to
me it's indicative of this idea that potentially you could have
an inflation scare in 2020 and perhaps investors are beginning
to position themselves for such a scare," Arone said.
Arone said he doubted inflation will be strong enough to
negatively impact the market, but it could provide a jolt to
investors lulled by interest rates below the historic norm.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 hit a high of $1,502.20 an ounce.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS
gained 0.01%, while its emerging market index lost 0.23%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
19.97 points, or 0.07%, to 28,531.56. The S&P 500 .SPX lost
0.28 points, or 0.01%, to 3,223.73 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 3.41 points, or 0.04%, to 8,949.06.
The dollar eased against the euro in holiday-thinned trading
and U.S. Treasury yields slipped. Euro zone bond markets were
shut.
The dollar index .DXY fell 0.02%, with the euro EUR= up
0.04% to $1.109. The Japanese yen JPY= strengthened 0.04%
versus the greenback to 109.36 per dollar.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 6/32 in price
to yield 1.9154%.
Oil prices rose after Russia said cooperation with the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on supply cuts
would continue and amid optimism that the United States and
China could finalize the trade pact.
Brent crude LCOc1 gained 74 cents to $67.13 a barrel,
while U.S. West Texas Intermediate CLc1 rose 46 cents to
$60.98 a barrel.
World stocks pile on more that $10 trillion in 2019 https://tmsnrt.rs/2PIlIJT
Global markets in 2019 https://tmsnrt.rs/2Q4zTYN
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