* European shares rise sharply
* Greenback on bullish footing, EUR/USD hits 7-mth low
* Crude oil eases as focus returns to oversupply
* Copper struggles at 6-year lows on China demand woes
By Jemima Kelly
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Global shares gained convincingly
on Tuesday, clawing back all the ground lost on the previous day
as investors bet that Friday's attacks on Paris would have
little lasting impact on the world economy.
With less nervy markets refocusing on the diverging outlook
between the United States, where an interest rate rise is
expected next month, and a euro zone set for still looser
monetary policy, the euro fell to a seven-month trough
against a strengthening dollar.
Having hit a six-week high on Monday, the widely tracked
CBOE volatility index, or "fear gauge", fell over 10 percent
.VIX .
European stocks rose sharply, helped by encouraging updates
from companies such as Germany's United Internet UTDI.DE and
Dutch-based Randstad RAND.AS , the world's second-biggest
staffing company.
U.S. stock index futures ESc1 1YMc1 also indicated a
higher start on Wall Street, building on a surge the previous
day that kicked off a global stock market rally.
Oil prices eased, as the spotlight returned to the global
abundance in crude and petroleum products and away from the risk
that escalating tensions in the oil-rich Middle East could choke
supply.
"Investors are showing resilience to the recent attacks in
Paris despite mounting worries over security in Europe," said B
Capital Wealth Management Managing Director Lorne Baring, in
London.
Traders were eyeing U.S. inflation data due at 1330 GMT,
forecast by a Reuters poll to show a 0.1 percent year-on-year
pick-up in consumer prices. They follow equivalent
numbers from Britain, which showed a better-than-expected
increase in core inflation, boosting sterling.
The U.S. numbers are unlikely to shift the broader picture
of a Federal Reserve on the cusp of raising interest rates. But
in a research note, Citi's head of G10 FX strategy in London,
Steven Englander, laid out a handful of big risks to current
market pricing from Wednesday's policy meeting minutes.
"The big risk is that the Minutes convey that many FOMC
(Federal Open Market Committee) members are less convinced on a
December hike than the market now thinks and could easily be
swayed by market uncertainty or other events," he wrote.
But currency investors appeared to see little risk of a
delay in the first Fed rate hike since 2006, with the dollar
hitting a seven-month high against a basket of major currencies
.DXY . The greenback was helped by the euro's fall to $1.0643
EUR= , its weakest since mid-April.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index was up more than 2 percent at
1,490.53 points by 1240 GMT. French shares .FCHI were up 2.2
percent after falling 0.1 percent on Monday following the
attacks that killed at least 129 people. MSCI's all-country
world index .MIWD00000PUS rose 0.6 percent.
COPPER PLUNGES
Copper prices plunged to their lowest in more than six years
on Tuesday as fears about demand growth in top consumer China
and a higher dollar fuelled negative sentiment.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS earlier rose 1.7 percent, bouncing from a
six-week low struck the previous day on risk aversion.
Shanghai stocks .SSEC climbed 1.4 percent, while Japan's
Nikkei .N225 added 1.6 percent, brushing a three-month peak.
The yen, which usually moves in the opposite direction to
Japanese shares and which tends to be sought in times of
geopolitical tension, edged towards a three-month low against
the dollar JPY= . That followed Monday's news that Japan, the
world's third biggest economy, has relapsed into recession.
Greek bond yields hit their lowest in more than a year and
local stocks rose after the country's finance minister said
Athens had reached an agreement with its lenders on financial
reforms.
"I can't see the rally in Greek bonds stopping any time
soon," said DZ Bank strategist Daniel Lenz.