AlHijjah 26, 1435, Oct 20, 2014, SPA -- Global stocks climbed on Monday, with strong U.S. data and encouraging third-quarter earnings easing concerns about the pace of global economic recovery and raising appetite for riskier assets, according to Reuters. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 45 countries, was up 0.3 percent by 0821 GMT. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan surged 1.2 percent overnight as an upbeat survey of U.S. consumer sentiment on Friday brought some calm to markets after a week of turbulence. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.3 percent, however, as a profit warning by technology company SAP hit shares in the sector. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment rose to its highest in more than seven years in early October, beating expectations. New housing starts were also surprisingly strong last month, suggesting U.S. economic growth remained solid. Japan's $1.2 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund -- the world's biggest, with a war chest bigger than the annual output of Mexico's economy -- is likely to raise its allocation for domestic stocks to about 25 percent, people familiar with the process said on Saturday. On Wall Street, all major stock indexes rose more than 1 percent on Friday, while Japan's Nikkei surged 4 percent on Monday to post its biggest daily rise since June 2013 on upbeat U.S. data and as a weaker yen helped exporters. Brent crude steadied, holding on to gains scored in the previous session that took it above $86 a barrel after U.S. data, with a cut in Saudi-Kuwait oil output providing further support.
