Stocks rally, euro jumps on hopes for Greece

11/07/2015 13:16 AST

Global stock markets rallied while the euro rose broadly on Friday on optimism that last-minute concessions by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras would clinch a deal with international creditors and save the country from bankruptcy.

The S&P 500 was up 1.4 percent, while European and Chinese equities ended sharply higher.

The euro jumped against the yen and investors cut safe-haven holdings in U.S. Treasuries, putting the 30-year bond's yield on course for its biggest two-day increase in two years.

The volatile week saw Greece's banks remain shut after the country voted in a referendum to reject previous bailout terms, raising chances of a "Grexit" from the euro.

The new Greek plan is by no means a done deal. Greece's parliament still needs to throw its weight behind the proposals and trust with creditors needs to be rebuilt. But investors saw the latest news as reason to be upbeat.

"Investors are betting that a Greek deal will be stuck by this Sunday, and that reduction of risk is boosting stocks today. The removal of the risk of an exogenous shock means better market psychology," said Jim McDonald, who helps oversee $960 billion in assets as chief investment strategist at Northern Trust Asset Management in Chicago.

The euro climbed to a one-week high against the yen of 137.27 yen and was last at 136.79, up 2.2 percent. The euro zone common currency was on track for its largest one-day gain since April 2013. Against the dollar, the euro was up 0.9 percent at $1.1136.

MSCI's all-country equities world index jumped 1.6 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 240.95 points, or 1.37 percent, to 17,789.57, the S&P 500 gained 28.65 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,079.96 and the Nasdaq Composite added 81.49 points, or 1.66 percent, to 5,003.89.

European shares ended up 2.1 percent.

Chinese stocks were also buoyed by a raft of support measures from Beijing that appeared to calm investors. Panic selling had slashed a third of the value off mainland markets since its peak in June.

China's worries have spread to other markets, with iron ore the hardest-hit industrial commodity and oil prices also hit.

Copper slipped and registered a weekly fall of nearly 3 percent as concerns persisted over China. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 ended down 0.8 percent at $5,590 a tonne.

Oil prices were nearly flat. U.S. crude fell 4 cents to settle at $52.74 per barrel, while Brent gained 12 cents to $58.73.

The 30-year Treasuries yield was up 10.9 basis points in late trading on Friday at 3.208 percent. This would bring its two-day increase to about 22 basis points, which would be largest such jump since early July 2013, according to Reuters data.

Reuters