* MSCI AxJ index up 0.7%; dollar gains on risky currencies
* Biden plans broad spending programme, big U.S. jobs number
eyed
* U.S. bond yields turn steady in calmer trade
By Marc Jones
LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) - World stocks ran higher on
Thursday following their slowest quarter in a year, as U.S.
economic strength offset the return to strict COVID lockdown
measures in parts of Europe and elsewhere.
U.S. President Joe Biden's sweeping $2.3 trillion plan to
rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure lifted
MSCI's 50-country world index .MIWD00000PUS for a second day
running, while oil jumped 1.5% before an OPEC meeting.
Asian markets had seen a strong finish with a late burst
pushing Chinese shares up 1.2%, and Europe's STOXX 600 .STOXX
shrugged off France's new lockdown order to push back towards
its pre-COVID record highs. .EU
The euro edged up, too, and euro zone bond yields held their
ground, as the European Central Bank's chief economist
reiterated that the ECB had no intention of curbing its support
despite rising inflation.
IHS Markit's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI)
showed euro zone factory activity rising at its
fastest pace in the survey's near 24-year history, although
lockdowns and supply chain issues may soon rein it in.
Inflation data on Wednesday had shown euro zone inflation
accelerated to 1.3% in March from 0.9% a month earlier.
"The biggest question, the million-dollar question now, is
where is the landing zone for inflation," said Geraldine
Sundstrom, an asset allocation portfolio manager at PIMCO.
"Will it feed on itself or will it come back to a
comfortable level ... this is the thing that will drive the
central banks in whether they take away the punch bowl or not."
Wall Street futures pointed to early gains for the S&P 500
and other major U.S. markets, while benchmark 10-year U.S.
Treasuries were sat at 1.76% US10YT=RR , having started the
year at just over 0.9%.
The dollar consolidated its healthy 3.5% first-quarter gain,
though it didn't seem ready to go anywhere fast.
The euro changed hands at $1.1720 EUR= , after hitting a
near five-month low of $1.1704. Against the British pound, the
common currency was flat after hitting a 13-month low of 0.85025
pound EURGBP=D4 .
President Emmanuel Macron ordered France into its third
national lockdown on Wednesday while the euro zone lagged the
United States and Britain in vaccination programmes.
"As long as the news flow on either side of the Atlantic is
more or less diametrically opposed, there is really not much to
be said in support of the euro," Commerzbank analyst Antje
Praefcke wrote to her clients.
SHIFTING SENTIMENT
U.S. markets closed out the quarter with gains - the S&P 500
.SPX rose 5.8% and the Dow Jones .DJI 7.8% over the three
months. However, the 4.1% quarterly rise in world stocks
.MIWD00000PUS was the slowest since the recovery from last
March's meltdown began.
Risk-sensitive currencies reflected that on Thursday,
although the approaching long Easter weekend thinned trade. The
Australian dollar AUD=D3 fell 0.7% to $0.7535, its lowest
since December, and the yuan CNY= and kiwi dollar NZD=D3
also slipped.
Australia's fastest home-price gains in more than three
decades last month also point to some of the side effects of
ultra-easy monetary policy, possibly putting pressure on central
banks to curtail support sooner than they had planned.
Other signs of fragility in sentiment included the flop
listing of food-delivery company Deliveroo ROO.L , which fell
by nearly a third on its London debut on Wednesday, and nerves
following the fire sale of U.S. hedge fund Archegos Capital's
portfolio.
Commodities were mixed. Brent oil prices jumped 1.5% to
$63.5 barrel on talk that OPEC and its allies will keep
production curbs in place later in the face of resurgent
COVID-19 infections in some regions. Crude surged 25% in the
first quarter. Gold XAU= , which pays no income, hung on to overnight
gains to trade at $1,714 an ounce. Even so, it suffered its
worst quarter since late 2016 owing to the rise in U.S. yields.
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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
U.S. yields and inflation https://tmsnrt.rs/3rElOC9
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