GLOBAL MARKETS-World stocks stay high, Russia's rouble buckles under sanctions stress

(Recasts lead, adds Europe, U.S. stock futures, updates levels
throughout)
* World stocks look to extend record run
* Russia's rouble falls as much as 2%
* MSCI ex-Japan eases after two days of gains
* NZ, Chinese, HK shares in the red
* Oil steadies after 5% surge, commod currencies benefit
* Dollar languishes near one-month lows
* Oil holds near 1-mth top, gold slightly higher

By Marc Jones
LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - World stocks were on course to
extend a five-day run of record highs on Thursday, while Bitcoin
took a breather after its latest surge and Russia's markets
tumbled at the prospect of the harshest U.S. sanctions in years.
For traders, it was hard keeping up. Europe's STOXX 600
.STOXX opened with a new all-time high as a flurry of positive
earnings offset growing worries about a third wave of COVID
infections on the continent. .EU The U.S. dollar was at a four-week low USD= ahead of March
retail sales data with investors increasingly convinced that
U.S. interest rates will stay low, whereas in Europe a deluge of
debt issuance lifted German bond yields to four-week highs.
GVD/EUR
For those following markets elsewhere it was even more
hectic. Turkey was waiting for its first central bank meeting
under its new governor after the last one was sacked after
hiking interest rates last month. The Russian rouble had already fallen as much as 2% RUB=
on reports the United States would announce sanctions later for
alleged interference in U.S. elections and malicious cyber
activity. They were set to target both individuals and entities and
could also include aggressive new measures targeting the
country's sovereign debt, according to one source who spoke to
Reuters. "There has been a bit of whiplash for the rouble." Saxo
Bank's head of FX strategy John Hardy said. "Earlier in the week
it looked like the U.S. was making overtures about a
(Biden-Putin) summit and now it looks like they are going to
slap on sanctions."
Wall Street futures were pointing higher after a mixed
finish on Wednesday despite gains for bulge-bracket banks like
Goldman Sachs GS.N and Wells Fargo WFC.N as they got U.S.
earnings season off to a good start. .N
The mood had been subdued in Asia overnight where the Nikkei
.N225 ended little changed and Hong Kong .HSI and China's
.CSI300 main bourses finished 0.5%-0.6% in the red.
JPMorgan Asset Management said in a note it was trimming its
overall emerging markets exposure once again "mostly driven by a
less sanguine outlook on EM Asia."
"China has now recovered enough that policymakers can afford
to be more conservative and worry more about containing debt and
property market risks," its global multi-asset strategist Patrik
Schowitz wrote in a note.
The bank had already recommended selling EM currencies
earlier in the week.
There were no such worries for the cryptocurrencies. Despite
a bumpy IPO for crypto firm Coinbase, the world's biggest and
best-known Bitcoin was just shy of its record high at $62,614
having now doubled in value this year.
Back in the bond markets, 10-year U.S. bond yields eased to
1.6165% US10YT=TWEB in European trade, down from a 14-month
peak of 1.776% reached in late March, reducing the dollar's
yield attraction.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the U.S.
central bank would reduce its monthly bond purchases "well
before" it raised interest rates. "Risk sentiment is improving," dragging on bond yields and
the dollar, said Osamu Takashima, chief currency strategist at
Citigroup Global Markets Japan.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar slipped for a fourth
day JPY= to 108.90. The euro EUR= was flat at $1.1977 as was
sterling GBP= at $1.3776.
The Australian dollar AUD=D3 hovered near three-week highs
at $0.7716 after posting its biggest one-day percentage gain
since Feb. 19 on Wednesday. Its New Zealand peer NZD=D3 was
upbeat at $0.7147, a level not seen since March 23.
In commodities, oil held near one-month highs after climbing
nearly 5% on Wednesday as the International Energy Agency (IEA)
said there were signs the massive overhang in global oil
inventories was now being "worked off". O/R
Brent crude LCOc1 was up 2 cents at $66.60 a barrel. U.S.
crude CLc1 slipped 5 cents to $63.1. Gold XAU= was 0.4%
higher at $1,741.8 an ounce.

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Asia stock markets https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
Asia-Pacific valuations https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dr2BQA
Russia and Ukraine risk gauges have been rising https://tmsnrt.rs/3dhph5F
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