* Bernanke sees good prospects for recovery
* U.S. stocks end at new high for 2009
* MSCI world equity index at highest since early October
* Oil tops $74/barrel during session, settles at $73.89
(Updates to U.S. markets close, changes byline)
By Walter Brandimarte
NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - World stocks climbed to
10-month highs and oil topped $74 per barrel on Friday, after a
strong rise in U.S. home sales and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke delivered an upbeat economic outlook.
U.S. stocks ended the week at new highs for 2009, while
European shares marked their highest close since early
November.
Safer havens such as the U.S. dollar, the yen and U.S.
Treasuries fell as the news encouraged investors to move funds
into riskier, higher-yielding assets.
An industry survey showed sales of previously owned U.S.
homes rose for a fourth straight month in July to notch their
fastest sales pace in nearly two years -- the strongest sign
yet that housing is pulling out of a three-year slump. For
details, see [].
The rally intensified after Bernanke told a Fed conference
in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that "prospects for a return to
growth in the near term appear good." []
He cautioned that growth is likely to be slow and
unemployment will remain high, leading investors to conclude
that interest rates will remain low for a prolonged period.
"The home sales data got the market rolling, but Bernanke
really persuaded investors to (keep up) the rally," said John
Augustine, chief investment strategist at Fifth Third Asset
Management in Cincinnati.
"His comment was optimistic, but also prudent about the
quantitative easing ending sometime. But the market took it all
as good news."
The Dow Jones industrial average <> finished up 155.91
points, or 1.67 percent, at 9,505.96, while the Standard &
Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 18.76 points, or 1.86 percent,
to 1,026.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> rose 31.68
points, or 1.59 percent, to 2,020.90.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit 10-month intraday highs,
while the Dow industrials rose to their highest level in nine
months. The S&P is now up 51.7 percent from a 12-year closing
low set on March 9.
Shares of U.S. home builders were bolstered by the positive
housing data. The Dow Jones home construction index <.DJUSHB>
rose 3.4 percent, with D.R. Horton <DHI.N> jumping 3.4 percent
to $12.66 and luxury builder Toll Brothers <TOL.N> gaining 3.7
percent to $22.70.
The European FTSEurofirst 300 index <> gained 2.3
percent, supported by a greater-than-expected improvement in a
euro zone manufacturing and services survey, as well as the
U.S. housing data.[]
The European index is up nearly 50 percent since reaching a
lifetime low in early March.
The MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> jumped 1.64 to
its highest level since early October.
The MSCI stock index for emerging markets <.MSCIEF> climbed
1.11 percent.
The positive market sentiment also lifted U.S. crude oil
prices to their highest levels in 2009. Front-month October
crude <CLV9> ended up 98 cents at $73.98 a barrel, the highest
since mid-October. Prices reached an intraday high of $74.72
earlier in the session.
DOLLAR, TREASURIES SLIDE
Safer-heaven assets declined, on the other hand.
The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond <US30YT=RR> sold off more
than two points in price for a yield of 4.3776 percent, up from
4.25 percent late Thursday. The benchmark 10-year note
<US10YT=RR> was 39/32 lower to yield 3.5724 percent from 3.44
percent.
The euro rose 0.6 percent against the U.S. dollar to
$1.4325 <EUR=>, after hitting a session peak of $1.4375, the
highest level since Aug. 7, according to Reuters data.
Against the Japanese yen, the European currency was up 0.7
percent at 135.19 yen <EURJPY=R>.
"We've hit a bottom in the housing market. I think you're
going to see further dollar and yen declines on that outlook,"
said Fabian Eliasson, vice president of currency sales at
Mizuho Corporate Bank in New York.
"As conditions improve both here and in Europe ... there's
less need for safer-haven currencies as the yen and dollar have
been in the past year."
(Additional reporting by Angela Moon, Wanfeng Zhou; Editing by
Leslie Adler)
