* German industrial orders boost European stocks
* Yen falls after finance minister warns could intervene
* Nikkei up on weaker yen, Shanghai stocks hit by weak trade
data
By Patrick Graham
LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) - European stock markets bounced
back from their worst week since early February with a more than
1 percent gain on Monday, a rise in oil prices and strong
economic numbers from Germany outweighing worries over China.
The dollar, struggling since a disappointing set of U.S.
jobs numbers on Friday, jumped to its highest in 10 days against
the yen after Japan's finance minister said outright that Tokyo
was ready to intervene if currency moves hurt the economy.
But with the yen always tending to suffer when investors
expectations on growth rise, the move also looked as much the
result of the broader optimism generated by the move in oil and
the biggest rise in German industrial orders in nine months.
U.S. futures showed Wall Street was also set to gain around
a quarter of a percent on opening. 1YMc1 ESc1 The
pan-European FTSE 300 index .FTEU3 , Germany's DAX .GDAXI and
France's CAC .FCHI all rose by more than 1 percent.
"There's a general improvement in risk sentiment, on the
back of the higher oil price," said Hantec Markets' analyst
Richard Perry.
"Safe-havens such as the Yen and gold are coming under
pressure, and that is filtering through to push up equities."
Still, the mood was not uniformly rosy.
Shanghai's stock market .SSEC sank almost 3 percent after
worse-than-expected Chinese trade numbers, which added to the
more general doubts about the pace of global growth and the
likelihood of rises in interest rates generated by Friday's U.S.
jobs data.
And after gaining almost 2 percent in early trade in Europe,
Brent and U.S. crude prices saw gains pared back. LCOc1 CLc1
An almost 15 percent surge for the yen has been the big
currency story of the past six months and traders remain
sceptical over the chances of Tokyo making good on repeated
threats to counter the move in the absence of global support.
Japan is the developed world's most consistent
interventionist on markets over the past two decades as it
strives to find a way out of a cycle of low growth and low
inflation.
But previous bouts of yen selling have tended to come with
at least tacit blessing of its international partners and this
time Washington seems opposed.
"Finance Minister Aso stated strongly that sudden yen
strength or weakness is bad and that Japan has the means to
intervene," said Lee Hardman, a currency analyst with Bank of
Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in London.
"He also attempted to alter market expectations that US
opposition will prevent Japan from intervening. Overall, the
comments do not significantly change our view that direct
intervention to dampen yen strength remains unlikely in the
near-term."
The dollar, which hit an 18-month low against the yen last
week JPY= , was up 1.1 percent by midday in London at 107.60
yen. That is still down from 123 yen last December.
The recovery in the value of crude this year has tended to
be a positive for stock markets, encouraging hopes that consumer
prices will also start rising again, easing the burden of debts
weighing on companies and governments and allowing more
investment.
Against that is the impact on oil companies' operations of
shutdowns caused by wildfires in Canada which have hampered
production. Dealers said that European-listed oil majors were
shielded by the impact being chiefly on Canadian operations.