GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks gain on U.S.-China trade truce hopes, dollar flat

(Adds U.S. market open, changes byline, dateline; previous
LONDON)
* Wall Street edges higher as tech, financials rise
* Dollar trades flat as market awaits news from G20 summit
* Crude prices slip ahead of G20, OPEC meeting

By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, June 27 (Reuters) - Global equity markets gained
and the dollar held steady on Thursday ahead of the G20 summit
where a much-anticipated meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump
and Chinese President Xi Jinping may lead to a truce in the
U.S.-China trade war.
The world's two largest economies have agreed to a tentative
truce in their trade dispute before the planned meeting on
Saturday, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported, citing
sources. The report rekindled investor interest in riskier assets and
weighed on safe-haven assets as it dialed down fears that Trump
would impose new tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods.
A Wall Street Journal report that Xi planned to present
Trump with a set of terms Washington should meet before Beijing
is ready to settle their dispute tempered optimism. "I continue to be very skeptical that the U.S., at least
this current administration, will reach a deal with China," said
Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in
New York.
"I can't find any compelling reasons why China would make
real concessions to the U.S.," Hooper said.
The dollar index .DXY , which tracks the dollar against the
euro, Japanese yen, sterling and three other currencies, traded
little changed at 96.214. The dollar also was little changed
against the euro EUR= and the yen JPY= .
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS
gained 0.39%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX
rose 0.13%.
Stocks on Wall Street mostly gained, though the Dow
industrials were slightly lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 45.33 points,
or 0.17%, to 26,491.49. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 7.09 points,
or 0.24%, to 2,920.87 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
37.71 points, or 0.48%, to 7,947.68.
Healthcare .SPXHC rose 0.55% and financials .SPSY gained
0.75%, with big lenders leading the charge ahead of results of
the second part of the Federal Reserve's annual stress test for
banks.
Semiconductor companies, which have a sizable revenue
exposure to China, traded higher, with the Philadelphia
Semiconductor index .SOX rising 1.13%.
U.S. Treasury debt yields fell on concerns that trade
discussions between the United States and China on Saturday may
be more complicated than previously expected.
News headlines suggest that "the meeting in Osaka is going
to be a lot more tense than some of the initial optimism
suggested," said Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rates strategy at BMO
Capital Markets in New York.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note US10YT=RR rose
6/32 in price to push its yield lower to 2.0278%.
German government bond yields fell back toward record lows
after data showed annual inflation in the euro zone's biggest
economy remained well below the European Central Bank's target.
Germany's 10-year bond yield was down 1.2 basis points at
minus 0.32% DE10YT=RR , nearing Tuesday's record low of minus
0.336%.
Oil fell to almost $66 a barrel, weighed by concerns over
whether the G20 summit will produce a breakthrough on trade and
perceptions that supply is ample despite prospects for continued
curbs by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Brent crude LCOc1 , the global benchmark, was down 24 cents
at $66.25 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1
fell 9 cents to $59.29.

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