World stocks rise on plans for central bank support

World shares rose and the euro hovered near a three-week high on Friday, lifted by central bank preparations for coordinated liquidity operations in the event of a credit shock after Sunday's Greek election.

Expectations of more monetary stimulus were also boosted by a British plan to flood its recession-hit economy with cash, and after economic data in the United States rekindled talk of more Fed easing. But the Bank of Japan left its policy unchanged on Friday after a two-day meeting.

"Despite some traders pricing in a global deluge of cheap money, today's gains on the open are seen as only modest," said Jonathan Sudaria, a dealer at London Capital Group.

The MSCI world equity index was up 0.2% at 302.99 points - a rise of about 1.5% for the month so far after a fall of over 9% in May.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.4% at 987.46 points in early trade led by gains in financial stocks.

The euro was little changed at $1.2620, off a two-year low of $1.2280 hit on June 1, with the market still nervous about the impact of the Greek election on the future of the euro.