World stocks climbed to a new 28-month high despite weakness in Europe on Thursday while the euro held on to the previous session's gains as bond auctions in Spain and Italy went without a hitch, according to Reuters. Wall Street looked set to open moderately lower. The bond auctions followed Wednesday's smooth sale of Portuguese debt and took the edge off concerns about the ability of debt-strapped euro zone issuers to fund themselves. Spain sold 3 billion euros of five-year bonds, raising the maximum amount targeted. The yield was higher than at a previous auction in November but lower than recent secondary market levels. "It's been successful, the most positive has been reaching the top end of the objective and the bid-to-cover ratio of 2.1 is higher than the previous auction," said Soledad Pellon, an analyst at IG Markets. "The success is due to national and international support and has been taken favourably by the markets." Italy's auction of 7 billion euros of 5- and 15-year government bonds also went well, if anything slightly better than Spain's. Recent worries about the sustainability of the euro zone's debt-strapped economies have eased, partly because a European Union finance ministers meeting next week is likely to address new support mechanisms. Promises from China and Japan to support Europe through its fiscal crisis have also helped ease worries about the euro zone's financing troubles. One result has been a rebound in the euro from recent lows. It hit a one-month high against the Swiss franc on Thursday, for example, and was above $1.31, compared with recent trading below $1.29. "We're wary of positioning for euro downside too aggressively because there seems to be more and more news that Germany and France are going to push through some emergency resolution package," said Geoffrey Yu, currency strategist at UBS. The European Central Bank meets later in the day but is expected to keep interest rates unchanged at 1.0 percent, leaving the focus on the ECB's bond-buying programme and an acceleration in euro zone inflation. BUOYANT STOCKS Outside Europe, stocks were generally higher, lifted by the easing euro zone fears, an improving global economy and positive corporate earnings. Intel Corp is to report quarterly results later. World stocks as measured by MSCI were up 0.2 percent having earlier hit a fresh 28-month high and emerging market stocks climbed to a 31-month peak. This came despite losses in Europe, where the FTSEurofirst 300 lost half a percent in what was likely to be profit-taking after a run that has given it a 3.25 percent gain this year. Japan's Nikkei closed up 0.7 percent, at a new eight-month high.
