World stocks break 500 barrier, oil camps at 2-1/2 yr high

By Marc Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - The global rally in stocks showed no sign of slowing on Tuesday, as upbeat investors pushed the most widely-tracked index of world stocks up for a ninth straight day and it sailed past the 500-point barrier.

The latest leg of the run came as Japan's Nikkei hit its best level since 1992 [.T], Germany's DAX scored a record high and Monday's 2-1/2 year top in oil prices lifted European resources stocks again.

All three of Wall Street's major indexes were also preparing to reopen at all-time highs again [.N] as the now 500-point MSCI 47-country 'All World' index added 0.2 percent to its almost-20 percent rise for the year.

"You've had almost a perfect backdrop for equities," said Pictet Asset Management's global strategist Luca Paolini.

"You have acceleration in nominal growth, earnings are between 10-15 globally and whatever you look at is pretty much in double digits."

The only bears remained in the Gulf, as nervousness around the weekend purge of Royals and officials in Saudi Arabia sent its stock market down again and Kuwait's bourse tumbling more than 4 percent. [EMRG/FRX]

Oil prices meanwhile held on to most of their gains, after posting the biggest rise in six weeks following the Saudi moves which had seen the crown prince tighten his grip on power and crank up tensions between the kingdom and Iran.

U.S. crude drifted back to $57.24 in Europe after going as high as $57.69 and Brent crude futures were at $64.04 after touching a peak of $64.65 a barrel. [O/R]

The dollar was also back on the move in the currency markets, amid signs of more change at the Federal Reserve and that Donald Trump's Republican party is inching closer to a long-awaited tax cut programme.

It pushed the euro down to $1.1572 - the single currency's lowest since mid-July - having also found some traction against the yen overnight. [FRX/]

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, added 0.3 percent to top the 95 points mark..

President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned North Korea he was prepared to use the full range of U.S. military power to stop any attack, but in a more conciliatory appeal than ever before he urged Pyongyang to "make a deal" to end the nuclear standoff.

A modest rise in U.S. yields also helped the U.S currency.

The benchmark 10-year yield was last at 2.330 percent compared to 2.320 percent, its U.S. close on Monday, when it hit its lowest levels in two weeks.

It was at a seven-month high of 2.47 percent as recently as late October. [US/]

Germany's 10-year bond yields also held near two-month lows at 0.338 percent after the ECB had firmed up its plans to reinvest the proceeds of its 2.5 trillion euro stimulus programme. [GVD/EUR]

The Federal Reserve had confirmed on Monday that influential monetary policymaker William Dudley plans to retire by mid-2018, leaving the leadership of the U.S. central bank unusually open.

(Additional reporting by Sujata Rao; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Pritha Sarkar)