* Cyclical shares, commodities advance on normalisation
hopes
* Drugmakers down in China, U.S. after Biden vaccine move
* Pound eyes BoE, Scottish election
* European stock index seen opening flat
* Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* World FX rates http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, May 6 (Reuters) - World shares and commodity prices
held firm on Thursday as investors switched to cyclicals amid
hopes of a strong economic recovery, but drugmakers' shares came
under pressure after Washington backed waiving patents for
COVID-19 vaccines.
MSCI's broadest gauge of world stocks, ACWI .MIWD00000PUS ,
was up slightly and European stocks are expected to open flat
with both Euro Stoxx futures STXEc1 and Britain's FTSE futures
FFIc1 little changed.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 jumped 1.8% as it reopened after a
five-day holiday.
But MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS lost 0.15% as Chinese shares, also resuming
trade for the first time since last week, wobbled. The CSI300
.CSI300 fell 1.3%, led by falls in biotech firms.
China's healthcare share index .CSIHC dropped more than 4%
after U.S. President Joe Biden threw his support behind waiving
intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines. Biden's move hit U.S. vaccine makers, too, including Moderna
MRNA.O , but Wall Street was supported overall by gains in
energy and other cyclical shares.
Dow .DJI hit a record high overnight, having risen 0.29%,
while the S&P 500 .SPX added 0.07%.
"This year, both the U.S. and Chinese economy could grow 6%
or more. If the world's two biggest economies are growing that
much, clearly that's positive," said Norihiro Fujito, chief
investment strategist, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
Against this backdrop, commodity prices are riding high,
with copper CMCU3 flirting with 10-year peaks. MET/L
Oil prices extended gains to edge near their March tops as
crude stockpiles in the United States, the world's largest oil
consumer, fell more sharply than expected.
U.S. crude futures stood at $65.65 per barrel CLc1 , little
changed on the day but just below Wednesday's two-month high of
$66.76. O/R
As agricultural products such as corn Cc1 , soybeans Sc1
and wheat Wc1 , have gained sharply in recent weeks, Thomson
Reuters CRB index .TRCCRB has risen to its highest level since
2015, having gained more than 21% so far this year.
BONDS AND CURRENCIES
Higher commodity prices are fuelling inflation expectations
in the bond market.
The U.S. breakeven inflation rate, or inflation expectations
calculated from the yield gap between inflation-linked bonds
US10YTIP=RR and conventional bonds, rose to as high as 2.48%
overnight.
But the U.S. nominal bond yields held relatively stable,
with the 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield little changed at 1.584%
US10YT=RR .
"Bonds were supported partly because the pace of
vaccinations has slowed in the States and as real-money
investors are starting to buy," said Naokazu Koshimizu,
economist at Nomura Securities.
"The rise in inflation is also driven more by supply
constraints than demand, which is why we are seeing rising
inflation expectations and a fall in nominal yields," he added.
In currencies, the Australian dollar briefly dropped as much
as 0.6% after China said it was indefinitely suspending all
activity under a China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue,
the latest setback for their strained relations. It last stood down 0.15% at $0.7734 AUD=D4
The British pound was flat at $1.3910 GBP=D4 ahead of a
central bank policy review.
The Bank of England could slow the pace of its bond buying
to allow its quantitative easing programme to last until the end
of the year, as it could reach the cap by September at the
current pace of buying.
Investors also looked to Scotland's election that could
trigger a showdown with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
over a new independence referendum. Other currencies were little moved, with the focus on
Friday's U.S. monthly jobs report which is expected to show that
nonfarm payrolls increased by 978,000 jobs last month.
The euro stood flat at $1.2004 EUR= while the yen changed
hands at 109.35 per dollar JPY= .
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Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
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(Editing by Himani Sarkar and Kim Coghill)