GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks set to gain as stimulus hopes support risk appetite

* U.S. stock futures firmer
* Equities at 3-month highs
* Dollar down to mid-March levels
* Oil comeback continues

By David Henry
NEW YORK, June 2 (Reuters) - Asian stocks were poised to
follow the global rally on Wednesday as hopes of more government
stimulus bolstered riskier assets and overshadowed a host of
other worries from the coronavirus to Hong Kong and growing U.S.
civil unrest.
E-mini futures for the S&P 500 EScv1 were up 0.3% and
Japan's Nikkei 225 futures NKc1 were 1.6% higher in Asia on
Wednesday morning, while Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures YAPcm1
rose 0.58% in early trading.
That comes after stocks in the United States, Europe and
emerging markets hit their highest levels on Tuesday since early
March and as bidding for riskier currencies pushed the dollar
toward three-month lows and oil neared three-week highs.
From its March 23 low, MSCI's gauge of stocks across the
globe .MIWD00000PUS was up 35%. Despite lockdowns to control
the COVID-19 pandemic, the global index is down year-to-date
only about 8%.
U.S. stocks indexes rose about 1% even as the worst civil
unrest in decades left dozens of cities under curfews following
protests over the death of an unarmed black man in police
custody.
With its gains, the U.S. tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite .IXIC
is down less than 3% from its pre-pandemic record highs.
"The good times continue to roll in risk markets," Mazen
Issa, senior FX strategist at TD Securities, said in a report.
"As intense as the rally has been, this is likely set to
continue as the breadth of the equity rally has now spread
outside the U.S."
The U.S. Treasury yield curve steepened, reflecting the sale
of more government debt to finance massive stimulus efforts. The
gap between yields on 5- and 30-year Treasuries US5US10=TWEB
reached 116 basis points on Tuesday, its highest since early
2017.
"A steepening curve does give equities a bit of a kick,"
said Kim Rupert, senior economist for Action Economics.
Expectations for additional support from the European
Central Bank and the German government boosted European stocks
and the euro on Tuesday.
Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE , Daimler DAIGn.DE and BMW,
BMWG.DE for example, gained more than 5% on confidence that
Germany's proposed 5 billion euro ($5.6 billion) stimulus
package will boost car sales. The ECB is expected to ramp up stimulative bond purchases
when it meets on Thursday. Oil prices climbed more than 3%, or $1 a barrel, on Tuesday
on renewed U.S. demand for gasoline and hopes that major crude
producers will agree this week to extend output cuts. U.S. West
Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) CLc1 settled at $36.81 and
Brent crude LCOc1 settled at $39.57 a barrel. Gold retreated 1% on Tuesday amid the broader optimism.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 settled down 0.9% at $1,734.
Gold is still up more than 18% from a low of $1,450.98 in
March because of the economic damage from the pandemic and the
massive amounts of money coming from central banks.

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