* Stocks hit 2-week high but struggling for momentum
* Renewed hopes of U.S. stimulus push shares higher
* Gold, bonds and other safety-plays dip
* Dollar steadies after coming under pressure
* Oil consolidates after 5% surge
* Graphic: 2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Marc Jones
LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - World stock markets climbed to
more than two-week highs on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald
Trump's return to the White House from COVID-19 treatment and on
hopes of a giant new U.S. stimulus package.
Despite a subdued London FTSE .FTSE , Europe benefited from
near 2% jumps in battered banks .SX7P and travel stocks
.SXTP , along with what Germany called a "remarkable" leap in
export orders to join Asia and Wall Street's
overnight rallies. GVD/EUR
MSCI's main world stocks benchmark was up 0.2%
.MIWD00000PUS at a two-week high too after Trump's return from
the Walter Reed Medical Center military hospital outside
Washington on Monday eased nerves about possible disruption to
next month's election.
Gold GOL/ , bonds GVD/EUR and the dollar /FRX all
dipped amid the modestly improved risk appetite, though Wall
Street futures had slipped into the red. .N O/R
"The market is slightly short of oomph," said Societe
Generale's Kit Juckes, pointing to Europe's subdued morning.
"It has not managed to get a meaningful lift from it (Trump
leaving hospital) and I think it is threatening to take a time
out and wait for what comes next."
Trump said he felt "real good" after a three-night hospital
stay, although one of his doctors cautioned he may not be out of
the woods until later in the week. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares .MIAP00000PUS
had risen 0.7% to a two-and-a-half-week high, with Hong Kong
.HSI climbing 0.8% and Japan's Nikkei .N225 adding 0.5%.
China's markets remained closed for a public holiday. .T
U.S. stimulus hopes were still bubbling in the background
after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin spoke by phone for about an hour on Monday and said they
were preparing to talk again on Tuesday. "If we do see some form of stimulus coming through, I think
the market will take it in a positive light," said J.P. Morgan
Asset Management's Chief Asia Market Strategist Tai Hui.
RECOVERY CONCERNS
S&P 500 futures ESc1 were a touch weaker after the best
daily gain on the S&P .SPX in a month overnight, while the
optimism left safe-haven asset demand mixed.
Gold XAU= recovered from an overnight wobble to perch at
$1,917 per ounce, after hitting a two-week peak on Monday.
Bond markets also joined in, as a sharp selloff in U.S.
bonds on Monday carried over into Asia and Europe.
Benchmark 10-year German government bond yields, which move
inverse to price, hit their highest in over a week.
GVD/EUR Japanese government bond futures 2JGBv1 fell to a
one-month low in the steepest drop in more than five weeks and
South Korean yields jumped. JP/T
However, analysts said selling in other markets was more
subdued than in the U.S. market because regional investors are
beginning to price in a victory for Democratic presidential
candidate Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election.
U.S. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell was also scheduled
to speak later in the day, giving traders extra reason for
patience, though caution from European Central Bank President
Christine Lagarde was already setting the tone.
"We now fear that the containment measures that have to be
taken by authorities will have an impact on this (economic)
recovery," Lagarde said, adding that it might prevent a
long-hoped for V-shaped rebound.
U.S. 10-year yields US10YT=RR were steady at 0.77% while
in the currency markets, the dollar was under minor pressure
from most other majors with the exception of the safe-haven
Japanese yen and Brexit-bound sterling GBP= . FRX/
The dollar firmed on the yen to reach 105.62 yen JPY= , not
far short of its highest levels in three weeks.
The Australian dollar gained briefly after the Reserve Bank
of Australia left rates on hold, as expected, but later fell
back, and the potential for further monetary easing capped
gains.
Oil jumped more than 5% overnight and edged higher still in
Europe, supported by the Trump news and a supply squeeze as a
strike shut six Norwegian offshore oil and gas fields.
O/R
Brent crude LCOc1 climbed 1.7% at $42.03 a barrel while
U.S. crude CLc1 last stood at $39.85 a barrel, up 1.6%.
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