Equities hit all-time high, Nasdaq to extend record

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Equities across the globe rode to all-time highs on Friday, with positive corporate earnings and a record peak for the Nasdaq Composite stoking investor optimism.

U.S. giants Amazon, Microsoft and Google led Wall Street higher, prepping the Nasdaq for a second straight record closing high. On Thursday, the index broke a closing record that had stood for more than 15 years.

The MSCI All-Country World index hit a lifetime high of 441.46 points, extending a multiyear rally driven by plentiful central bank cash and the global economy's recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.

"I think we're on more solid footing than the last time," said Gordon Charlop, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities in New York, comparing the fresh Nasdaq highs with those in 2000, right before the Internet bubble burst.

"There could be some vulnerability in some of the tech names, given the change in the value of the dollar, but I don't get the same sense that we're overvalued at these levels the way we were the last time we got here," he said.

Investor sentiment in Europe was boosted by positive updates from companies including Electrolux and Renault. European companies are set for a bumper earnings season on the back of a weak euro and an improved economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.77 points, or 0.02 percent, to 18,055.92; the S&P 500 gained 3.3 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,116.23 and the Nasdaq Composite added 34.10 points, or 0.67 percent, to 5,090.16.

The FTSEurofirst 300 rose 0.3 percent, with sentiment supported by a German business survey that rose by more than expected for April. The prospect of a breakthrough in Greece's debt drama underpinned markets.

Oil prices edged back from 2015 highs reached the session before but remain on course for weekly gains after renewed air strikes in Yemen stoked concerns on the security of Middle East oil shipments.

Brent crude was on track for a fifth week of price increases in the last six, up 0.3 percent on the day. U.S. crude dropped 1.7 percent to $56.79 but was on track for its sixth straight week of gains.

The euro retreated from a two-week high against the U.S. dollar after Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers, said that despite commitments from all sides to strike a deal on Greece they were "still far" from reaching one. The dollar index was flat.

U.S. Treasuries prices rose as weak U.S. business investment data for March supported the view that it is unlikely the Federal Reserve will signal next week it is close to raising interest rates.

U.S. 10-year Treasury notes were up 8/32 in price for a yield of 1.9191 percent, compared with 1.947 percent late on Thursday.

(Editing by Toby Chopra and Jonathan Oatis)