* Emerging markets set for 5th day of gains
* Brazil shares rise most in seven years
* Wall St finishes slightly up
* Oil rises for fourth straight day
By Dion Rabouin
NEW YORK, March 3 (Reuters) - World stock markets touched a
two-month high on Thursday, fueled by gains in emerging markets
and a late rally on Wall Street, as concerns about global growth
abated and commodities prices extended their recovery.
A measure of emerging-markets shares .MSCIEF rose 1.4
percent for a fifth day of gains, its longest winning streak
this year.
U.S. stocks finished higher after lagging most of the day,
building on a recent recovery as a rally in energy stocks offset
dips in health and technology shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 44.58 points,
or 0.26 percent, to 16,943.9, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 6.95
points, or 0.35 percent, to 1,993.4 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 4.00 points, or 0.09 percent, to 4,707.42.
MSCI's world equity index .MIWD00000PUS rose 0.8 percent.
Emerging markets were the story of the day with the MSCI
emerging markets index MSCIEF on track for its biggest weekly
gain since October.
The biggest move came from Brazil's Bovespa index .BVSP ,
which rose more than 5 percent on news that President Dilma
Rousseff could be implicated in a sweeping corruption scandal.
That encouraged investors who blame her administration's
policies for driving Brazil into what could be its deepest
recession ever.
It was the most the Bovespa has risen since October 2009.
"(Emerging markets) fell the most so it's bouncing the most
in this risk recovery. But you can't ignore the fact that it was
actually crushed for most of last year," said Win Thin, global
head of emerging market currency strategy at Brown Brothers
Harriman.
Emerging market stocks fell nearly 17 percent in 2015, and
more than 6.5 percent in January, as investors pulled back on
riskier stock markets due to concern about weak demand
worldwide. That concern was fanned by sharp falloffs in
commodities prices, particularly oil.
Since then, oil has recovered some of its losses, though it
still trades far below its average over the last year. On
Thursday, Brent crude LCOc1 rose 0.2 percent to $37.01 and
U.S. crude CLc1 settled down 0.3 percent to $34.57.
Commodities have surged in tandem with the return of risk
appetite that has swept markets over the past two weeks. Copper
prices hit their highest since November, backed largely by news
of fresh stimulus from China. Copper CMCU3 was up 1.3 percent
on the day.
China, the world's No. 2 economy and massive consumer of
commodities, moved to cut banks' reserve requirement ratio
earlier in the week, indicating a slight easing bias in its
monetary policy. China accounts for nearly half of global copper
consumption estimated at about 22 million tonnes this year.
Despite the recent equity and commodity rally, questions
remain about the global economy's resilience. Global business
activity expanded at its weakest rate in over three years in
February, business surveys showed on Thursday.
The dollar stumbled after a survey of U.S. service-sector
employment fell for the first time since 2014.
The dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback
against six major rivals, was down 0.6 percent.
U.S. Treasury US10YT=RR prices rose modestly as investors
looked ahead to Friday's key employment report for signs of
economic momentum. A solid jobs report could bolster
expectations that the Federal Reserve remains on track to raise
interest rates later this year. The 10-year U.S. benchmark was
up 4/32 to yield 1.83 percent. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Year-to-date asset performance http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/2014/05/01/1605285136.htm
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