STOCK MARKET WATCH - Friday, 27 January 2012

[Ghost Dog]

32. Greece hopes keep stocks, euro supported

LONDON | Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:54pm GMT (Reuters) - World stocks hovered near a 5-1/2 month high on Friday as investors anticipated an imminent conclusion to Greek debt talks while lower Spanish bond yields and a fall in Italy's six-month borrowing costs also supported the euro.

Sentiment was also buoyed by expectations that upcoming U.S. data would show the world's largest economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly two years at the end of 2011. . Stock futures pointed to a steady market open on Wall Street...

... The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS, which has gained more than 5 percent in January, erased earlier losses to stand unchanged on the day.... European stocks .FTEU3 inched up to also hover at five-month highs while emerging stocks .MSCIEF rose further to new three-month peaks. U.S. stock futures S&P 500 inched up 0.01 percent, while Dow Jones futures rose 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.4 percent at.

Brent crude oil rose 0.3 percent to $111.65 a barrel. Bund futures were little changed after hefty gains on Thursday...

/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/27/uk-markets-global-idUKTRE80M23K20120127