* Euro STOXX 600 up 0.3%
* BA owner gains on shorter quarantine hopes
* Dollar claws back from 27-month low
* Graphic: 2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Tom Wilson
LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - European shares gained ground on
Wednesday as a record high on Wall Street outweighed simmering
worries over a resurgence in coronavirus cases that could
undermine a nascent recovery.
The broad Euro STOXX 600 .STOXX added 0.3% in choppy
trading, with indexes in Frankfurt .GDAXI and London .FTSE
gaining similar amounts.
Among the bright spots were travel and leisure shares, with
British Airways-owner ICAG.L up 2.4% on a British plan to use
COVID-19 testing at London's Heathrow Airport to help cut the
number of days travellers have to spend in quarantine.
But oil and gas .SXEP and utilities .SX6P shares
weighed, with BP BP.L and Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L losing
around 0.7% as crude prices fell on worries over demand and
rising COVID-19 cases in Europe.
Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
outside of Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.2%, retreating from a
seven-month high reached after the S&P 500's .SPX record,
powered by looser monetary policy and charging tech stocks.
Wall Street futures ESc1 pointed to slim gains.
Strategists said the jittery mood in both Europe and Asia
was symptomatic of a growing focus for investors on where to put
money before a coronavirus vaccine is found.
Money has poured into U.S. growth stocks - the tech giants
and retail titans that have benefited most from the recovery -
as investors worry that, in the absence of a vaccine, a rise in
coronavirus cases could further hurt "value" shares.
"It's hands down the biggest dilemma out there at the
moment," said Mike Bell, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan
Asset Management.
"If you get a vaccine, you are going to see a big rotation
out of the stocks that have done very well this year - the
growth stocks, the tech stocks - into the beaten-up value stocks
- the hotels, the airlines."
Overnight, U.S. stocks set records as investors gravitated
to the stay-at-home winners from COVID-19 lockdowns, such as
Amazon AMZN.O and Netflix NFLX.O .
The benchmark S&P 500 surpassed its February all-time high,
hit just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic pummelled
stocks to lows on March 23.
It has surged about 55% since those lows, fuelled by
monetary stimulus packages even as alarm bells ring over the
underlying health of the economy and as negotiations over fiscal
stimulus in Washington drag on.
The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks
shares in 49 countries, gained 0.1%.
DOLLAR FLOORED
The U.S. Federal Reserve's intervention in financial markets
to maintain liquidity has pushed riskier assets to all-time
highs and reduced demand for safe-havens, battering the U.S.
dollar.
The greenback =USD clawed away from a 27-month low touched
overnight, gaining 0.1% against a basket of currencies to
92.259.
"The U.S. dollar left the building overnight," said Jeffrey
Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, citing the prospect for
further loosening of policy by the Federal Reserve as the
trigger.
Markets were also awaiting minutes from the Fed's recent
meeting due later in the day for any hints on what the Fed could
announce in September.
"We are expecting a clear dovish message from the Fed in
September," MUFG analysts wrote in a note.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell 35 cents, or 0.8%, to
$45.11 a barrel, on concerns that U.S. fuel demand may not
recover as quickly as expected amid stalled talks on an economic
stimulus package. O/R
For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock
markets, please click on: LIVE/
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>