(Updates with U.S. markets; changes dateline, previous LONDON)
* Upbeat factory data pushes U.S., European stocks up 1 pct
* Euro zone price data reinforce ECB easing expectations
* Dollar index rises to one-month high
By Dion Rabouin
NEW YORK, March 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks led equity markets
around the globe to their highest in a month on Tuesday after
U.S. factory and housing data came in better than expected and
oil prices rose.
Construction spending in the U.S. rose to the highest level
since October 2007 and a measure of the U.S. manufacturing
sector outpaced analysts' expectations across the board.
That helped push U.S. and European stock markets up more
than 1 percent in morning U.S. trading.
"The (manufacturing) data came out considerably stronger
than anticipated, just showing that, hey, there's underlying
strength in the economy," said Kent Engelke, chief economic
strategist at Capitol Securities Management in Richmond,
Virginia.
"The long and short of it is the American economy is showing
some unexpected strength."
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 233.83 points,
or 1.42 percent, to 16,750.33, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 30.99
points, or 1.6 percent, to 1,963.22 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 88.36 points, or 1.94 percent, to 4,646.31.
Global equity markets were further bolstered by the prospect
of the European Central Bank adding stimulus in the euro zone
after soft factory data.
European shares extended their strongest run of the year,
with the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 up 0.55 percent. London's
FTSE 100 was up 0.7 percent.
A global gauge of equity markets .MIWD00000PUS rose more
than 1 percent, touching its highest in a month.
Stocks looked to continue a yearlong correlation with oil as
crude prices reversed an early negative turn and again moved
toward a two-month high.
Benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 0.8 percent to
$36.83 a barrel. U.S. crude futures CLc1 were trading at
$34.24 a barrel, up 1.5 percent.
The stronger U.S. data pushed the dollar higher against the
yen with the greenback rebounding after its worst month against
the Japanese currency since 2008.
The yen also suffered from Japan becoming the first G7
economy to sell a 10-year government bond at a negative yield,
meaning that investors are effectively paying rather than
getting paid to hold the country's bonds.
The dollar rose 0.85 percent against the yen JPY= to
113.62 yen.
The euro EUR= fell to a one-month low against the dollar
and touched its lowest in almost three years against the yen
EURJPY= .
The dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback
against a basket of major currencies, rose to a one-month high
of 98.57.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note US10YT=RR was last
down 20/32 in price to yield 1.8075 percent, up from 1.74
percent late on Monday.