* Stocks up with earnings in focus
* ECB meets on interest rates
* High-yielding currencies rise
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Investors moved past concerns
about weakening demand from China on Thursday, upping their
exposure to risk in bets on a global upturn that lifted stocks
and higher-yielding currencies.
Corporate earnings remained clearly in focus, however, with
Intel <INTC.O> results due later in the day and JPMorgan <JPM.N>
on Friday.
China rattled investors earlier in the week by tightening
monetary policy, a move that set off concerns that one of the
current engines of global economic growth could cool.
The concerns were short-lived, however, allowing investors
to fall back into the risk-buying patterns that have generally
carried over into 2010 from last year.
MSCI's all-country world stock index <.MIWD00000PUS> was up
0.4 percent for a roughly 3 percent gain this year on top of
more than 31 percent last year.
The pan European FTSEurofirst 300 <> was up half a
percent. Japan's Nikkei <> closed up 1.6 percent at a
15-month closing high.
The immediate future of the rally may depend on some key
corporate results.
"Earnings will be the most decisive factor during the next
couple of weeks," said Koen De Leus, economist at KBC
Securities.
"Everything now depends on the results of Intel and
JPMorgan. If they are better-than-expected, then this rally can
go on little bit further. If the results fail to impress, then
we could see a correction."
The European Central Bank was also to meet later in the day,
It was not expected to make any changes to its currently loose
interest rate policy, but there are a number of concerns about
the impact of indebted Greece on the euro zone.
The cost of insuring Greece's sovereign debt against default
rose to a record high of 328,000 euros per 10 million euros of
exposure in New York trading on Wednesday, according to 5-year
credit default swap prices from CMA DataVision [].
AUSSIE BOOST
The Australian dollar jumped after a solid Australian
employment report triggered thoughts of higher interest rates,
encouraging investors to pick up the higher-yielding currency
and others like it.
The euro was steady against the dollar, with traders
cautious ahead of the ECB.
The Australian dollar was up 0.7 percent from late U.S.
trade to $0.9306 <AUD=D4>, having hit a two-month high of
$0.9331, taking it closer to the 2009 high of $0.9407.
Employment in Australia has now climbed 135,700 in the past
four months to stand at 10.9 million. In the United States that
would equate to an increase of around 1.6 million in non-farm
payrolls, compared with the 347,000 jobs actually lost.
The euro <EUR=> was up just under 0.1 percent against the
dollar at $1.4521.
Euro zone government debt was steady.
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash and Jessica Mortimer;
editing by Patrick Graham)
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http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting; for the MacroScope
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