* China Q2 GDP matches consensus, monthly activity data
upbeat
* Europe see-saws but MSCI world creeps to highest since Feb
2018
* MSCI ex-Japan reverse losses; Chinese, HK shares bounce
off lows
* Aussie dollar climbs, Morgan Stanley says re-enters short
USD/JPY trade
* Oil eases back, industrial metals nudge higher
By Marc Jones
LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - Surprisingly upbeat economic
soundings from China lifted the global markets mood on Monday,
pushing world shares towards an 18-month high and steering the
Aussie dollar and copper upwards.
Investors were waiting for a torrent of second-quarter
corporate earnings this week and a G7 finance chiefs meeting in
France, but there was plenty to be getting on with before that.
China's second quarter annual GDP growth rate fell to a
27-year low of 6.2% as expected, but its quarterly growth
reading of 1.6% was ahead of forecasts and June reports on
industrial production, retail sales and urban investment were
also well above expectations. Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets had ended marginally
positive, only held back by the concern that such a brisk pickup
in activity may see economic policymakers ease back on the
monetary and fiscal stimulus measures that were deemed largely
responsible for the acceleration.
A report by Reuters that Washington may approve licenses for
companies to restart new sales to Huawei in as little as two
weeks also improved the mood in China's tech sector, while a
steady start in Europe left MSCI's world index eyeing Feb. 2018
highs. .FTEU3 .EU
"It is no surprise that China is slowing down and if you
look at the other components of the data like retail sales and
industrial production, they are looking a little bit better than
expected," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden.
"Traders seem to be content to maintain a bit of optimism."
With the S&P 500 closing in record territory again on Wall
Street on Friday and above 3,000 for the first time, markets are
confident the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut its key interest
rate by at least a quarter point late this month.
In currency markets, the Australian dollar AUD=D3 , often
played as a liquid proxy for the Chinese yuan, sprang to its
highest since July 4 against the dollar USD= as it ticked
higher against the yen JPY= and the Swiss franc CHF= . /FRX
At 12.39%, the Vix volatility gauge .VIX had its lowest
close since April. Ten-year Treasury yields continued to nudge
higher, with the yield curve between 3 months and 10 years –
whose inversion for much of the past two months was widely seen
as a harbinger of recession over the next couple of years – back
probing positive territory for the first since mid-May.
Most euro zone government bond yields edged down from recent
3 1/2-week highs in early moves, although the reassuring signs
from the global economy meant the moves were small in scale.
Germany's benchmark 10-year bond yield was down just a basis
point at minus 0.25% DE10YT=RR , edging off Friday's 3 1/2-week
high but still about 16 basis points above record lows reached
earlier this month.
"The whole movement in bonds lost steam last week," said
Norbert Wuthe, a rates strategist at Bayerische Landesbank.
RELIEF
Commodities markets struggled to make up their minds about
how to interpret the Chinese data.
Brent crude LCOc1 was off 10 cents at $66.62. U.S. crude
CLc1 fell 21 cents to $60 a barrel, although that also came
after both contracts had posted their biggest weekly gains in
three weeks on diplomatic tensions in the Middle East and cuts
in U.S. oil production. O/R
Gold XAU= slipped to 1,414.25 an ounce, drifting away from
a recent six-year top of $1,438.60, but most industrial metals
climbed on the data and nickel prices were boosted by additional
supply worries from major producer Indonesia.
"This (China data) is a big relief. It seems that the
government's support has eventually had some positive impact on
the economy, especially in the seasonally weak month of June,"
said analyst Helen Lau of Argonaut Securities.
Later in the week, U.S. retail sales and industrial
production data will provide clues about the health of the
world's largest economy. The U.S. Federal Reserve will release
its 'Beige Book' on Wednesday, which investors will scour for
comments on how trade tensions were affecting the business
outlook.
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(Additional reporting Dhara Ranasinghe in London and Mai Nguyen
in Singapore; Editing by Andrew Heavens)