World stocks power to 4-month peak

By Natsuko Waki

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks powered to a fresh four-month peak on Friday, driven by technology and oil shares, while diverging growth outlooks between the United States and elsewhere weighed on the dollar.

Data from Japan showed the economy unexpectedly picked up pace, growing 0.8 percent in the first quarter as exports weathered a U.S. downturn. This followed Thursday's data which offered forecast-beating growth in the euro zone.

These economies could still follow the United States into a slowdown, but evidence that growth is more than holding up, which helped boost investor risk appetite.

"Europe is not going to be anywhere as badly affected with a continuing slowdown in the real economy as the U.S. is," said Adam Myers, market strategist at Credit Suisse.

"Europe will slow down but its slowdown is not going to have the same impact on financial markets and lending and therefore consumers than it will in the U.S."

The FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 1 percent while MSCI's main world equity index rose 0.5 percent to its highest since January.

The MSCI index is a whisker away from a 2008 high set in January and on track to recoup all of the losses made since the end of last year.

Reflecting an increasingly risk-friendly environment, the Volatility Index .VIX, a key gauge of fear which measures projected stock market volatility through the S&P, hit 16.08 on Thursday, its lowest since October, having shot up as high as 37.57 in January.

In Europe, technology shares were the best performing sector, helped by Thursday's gains in chip maker Intel Corp (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) after Lehman Brothers raised its price target on the stock. Oil shares also rose as oil resumed its march towards record peak.

Financial stocks rose, with a focus on a report by the Financial Times that Britain's biggest banks are preparing to swap between 80-90 billion pounds of mortgage-backed assets for Bank of England Treasury bills.

The amount is nearly twice what the central bank envisaged when it unveiled the scheme to unblock the frozen bank-lending market.

U.S. stock futures rose 0.3 percent, indicating a firmer open on Wall Street. Yahoo (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (YHOO.F: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was trading higher in Europe after the firm said late on Thursday it had struck an advertising partnership deal with WPP Group (WPP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) that will let WPP buy ads on Yahoo's online ad exchange.

DIVERGING GROWTH OUTLOOKS

Signs of diverging economic outlooks in G3 (United States, Japan and euro zone) countries weighed on the dollar earlier, before the U.S. currency recouped its losses to stand steady on the day.

The euro rose 0.2 percent at $1.5477.  Continued...