* Stocks hit 2-week high by struggling for momentum
* Renewed hopes of U.S. stimulus helps 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 neared a more
than two-week high on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald
Trump's return to the White House from hospital where he was
treated for COVID-19, and expectations of a new U.S. stimulus
package being agreed rose.
Europe saw a stuttering start with London's FTSE .FTSE
dipping and not much traction from France .FCHI , Italy
.FTMIB or Germany .GDAXI , despite a "remarkable" jump in
German industrial orders. GVD/EUR
Wall Street and most of Asia rallied overnight after Trump's
return from the Walter Reed Medical Center military hospital
outside Washington eased nerves about possible disruption to
next month's Presidential election.
Gold GOL/ , bonds GVD/EUR and the dollar /FRX suffered
losses amid the modestly improved risk appetite, though Wall
Street futures had slipped into the red and oil was losing its
strong overnight momentum. O/R
"The market is slightly short of oomph," said Societe
Generale's Kit Juckes, pointing to Europe's subdued start.
"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," he added.
Trump returned to the White House on Monday after a
three-night hospital stay and said he felt "real good", although
one of his doctors cautioned that 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 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.
CENTRAL FOCUS
S&P 500 futures ESc1 were a touch weaker after the best
daily gain on the S&P 500 index .SPX in a month overnight,
while the optimism hit gold and other safe haven assets.
Spot gold XAU= fell 0.1% to $1,911 per ounce, after
hitting a two-week peak on Monday, and U.S. gold futures GCv1
were down 0.21%.
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 Asian 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.
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde and U.S.
Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell were also scheduled to speak
later in the day, giving traders extra reason for patience.
"The selloff in U.S. yields is more driven by Trump getting
out of hospital," said DBS rates strategist Duncan Tan in
Singapore.
"That narrows some of the uncertainties around the election
process. In the short term, at the very least, it removes the
tail risk of having to consider if Trump or Biden is unable to
participate in the election."
U.S. 10-year yields US10YT=RR were steady at 0.77% while
in the currency markets, the dollar was under pressure from most
other majors with the exception of the safe-haven Japanese yen.
FRX/
The dollar gained 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
Asia, supported by the Trump news and a supply squeeze as a
strike shut six Norwegian offshore oil and gas fields.
O/R
U.S. crude CLc1 last stood at $39.15 a barrel, up 0.2%
and, Brent crude LCOc1 rose 0.1% to $41.35.