The euro rose on Wednesday while the premium investors pay for Greek debt fell as the European Commission endorsed Athens' budget plans, while stocks extended gains on hopes the global economy will maintain momentum.
A closely-watched survey showed the euro zone's dominant service sector expanded at a slower pace in January than in the previous month but that firms had grown more optimistic about the year ahead.
Brussels urged Greece to take further steps to cut public sector wages and put its finances in order. Greece's fiscal woes have prompted concerns across Europe, sparking a sell-off in peripheral euro zone government bonds from the likes of Italy, Portugal and Spain and putting pressure on the euro itself.
"Investors were very nervous last week but worries over Greece have receded as has concern about bank bashing by (U.S. President Barack) Obama and data was good yesterday," said Steven Bell, director at hedge fund GLC.
The euro rose 0.3 percent to $1.4013 while the FTSEurofirst 300 index gained around a third of a percent on the day.
Greek 10-year government bond spreads over German bunds fell further to 330 basis points from 352 bps late on Tuesday. Greek five-year credit default swaps — the cost of insuring investments in its debt — fell to 373.6 basis points from 387.3 bps on Tuesday. Portuguese five-year CDS also slipped to 166.2 bps.
The Bund future fell 24 ticks, pressured by flows into riskier assets such as stocks.
Q1 OPTIMISM
Stocks, oil and other risky assets rose after upbeat housing and manufacturing data and robust earnings in the United States on Tuesday followed last week's figures showing the world's biggest economy grew at its fastest pace in more than six years in the final three months of 2009.
All pointed to signs that massive government stimulus is feeding through into the real economy, which bodes well for assets like stocks and higher-yielding currencies.
"Fundamentally the stock market is in good shape … there is no reason in my opinion to desert equities at the moment," said David Buik, senior partner at BGC Partners.
"We have this conundrum of how long do we stay with the stock market before we desert it and face reality. The reality is all major countries in the world are going to put on too much debt." MSCI world equity index rose 0.5 percent, having hit a three-month low on Monday, before recovering to end up on the day. U.S. stock futures rose 0.18 percent, pointing to a firmer open on Wall Street.
Emerging stocks rose 1.8 percent, while Chinese stocks jumped 2.4 percent, their biggest gain in six weeks.
U.S. crude oil rose 0.7 percent at $77.77 a barrel.
The dollar fell 0.2 percent against a basket of major currencies.
