(Adds U.S. markets open, byline, dateline; previous LONDON)
* Kudlow says U.S., China getting close to trade deal
* Stocks on Wall Street hit record highs, MSCI climbs
* Treasury, European government yields gain on trade hopes
* Risk assets gold, Japanese yen decline
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Global equities markets rose
and safe-haven assets such as gold and government debt fell on
Friday on renewed hopes that the United States and China will
reach a deal to de-escalate their trade war helped boost risk
appetite.
The three major U.S. stock indexes opened higher and set
fresh record highs while equity markets from Tokyo to the major
bourses in Europe and across the Americas gained on remarks by
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Thursday.
Kudlow cited what he called very constructive talks with
Beijing about ending a 16-month trade war during an event at the
Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
"We're getting close," Kudlow said.
Progress was being made on an agreement's details, according
to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who said the trade talks
are set to continue with a telephone call on Friday as both
sides seek to hammer out a "phase one" pact. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS
gained 0.51%, with its emerging markets index .MSCIEF rising
0.66%. In Europe, the pan-regional STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose
0.26% and the FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 of leading shares
adding 0.19%.
On Wall Street, the three major indices hit record highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 106.48 points,
or 0.38%, to 27,888.44. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 11.64 points,
or 0.38%, to 3,108.27 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
40.89 points, or 0.48%, to 8,519.91.
"The market rally has largely been driven by the positive
sentiment around the trade talks, obviously," said Rahul Shah,
chief executive of Ideal Asset Management in New York.
The fourth quarter, which tends to be the best period for
corporate earnings, will likely be supportive of stocks going
forward, but poor macroeconomic data or a political event could
trigger a downturn, Shah said.
"Since the market is hitting all-time highs and everybody's
comfortable, the risk of an event affecting the market
negatively is higher now because the market is an elevated
level," he said.
The S&P 500 has gained almost 25% year to date, and forward
earnings for the benchmark index are at 18 times.
Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the
trade-sensitive technology sector .SPLRCT rising the most with
a 0.59% gain.
Gold prices and government debt prices fell as investors
leaned away from safe-haven assets on fresh hopes the United
States and China will de-escalate trade tensions.
Spot gold XAU= dropped 0.2% to $1,468.38 an ounce while
benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes US10YT=RR fell 2/32 in
price to push yields up to 1.8221%. Germany's 10-year Bund yield traded at -0.344% DE10YT=RR .
Oil prices rose on signs of progress in the U.S.-China trade
talks, offsetting concerns about rising supplies next year.
Benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 gained 37 cents to $62.65 a
barrel while West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 rose 45 cents
to $57.22 a barrel.
The Japanese yen and Swiss franc, both beneficiaries of a
flight to quality, weakened. The dollar index .DXY fell 0.18%, with the euro EUR= up
0.26% to $1.105. The Japanese yen JPY= weakened 0.28% versus
the greenback at 108.74 per dollar.