GLOBAL MARKETS-Equities hit record highs, dollar weakens on gloomy data

* Nasdaq, S&P 500 post fresh closing highs

* MSCI (NYSE: MSCI - news) world index hits multi-year high

* Dollar slips after weak U.S. business spending figures

* Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields also slip (Adds U.S. market close)

By Rodrigo Campos and Herbert Lash

NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) - Equity markets worldwide climbed to record highs on Friday as solid corporate earnings and an all-time peak for the Nasdaq stock index stoked investor optimism, while the dollar eased on gloomy U.S. economic data.

Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp and Google Inc led Wall Street higher, pushing the Nasdaq to a second straight record closing high a day after it topped a record that had stood for more than 15 years.

The S&P 500 also notched a new closing high.

The MSCI All-Country World Index hit a lifetime high of 442.05, extending a multi-year rally driven by plentiful central bank funding and the global economy's recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.

"I think we're on more solid footing than the last time," said Gordon Charlop, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities in New York, comparing the latest Nasdaq highs with those in 2000, just before the Internet bubble burst.

"There could be some vulnerability in some of the tech names, given the change in the value of the dollar, but I don't get the same sense that we're over-valued at these levels the way we were the last time we got here," he said.

Investor (Stockholm: INVE-A.ST - news) sentiment in Europe was boosted by positive updates from companies including Electrolux (Stockholm: ELUX-A.ST - news) and Renault . European companies are set for a bumper earnings season on the back of a weak euro and an improved economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 21.45 points, or 0.12 percent, to 18,080.14. The S&P 500 rose 4.76 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,117.69 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 36.02 points, or 0.71 percent, to 5,092.09.

With 201 of the S&P 500 companies having reported first-quarter results, 69.7 percent have beaten expectations, a hair less than the average the past four quarters, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 stock index rose 0.4 percent to close at 1,626.83, supported by a German business survey that rose by more than expected for April. The prospect of a break-through in Greece's debt drama underpinned markets.

Oil prices were mixed, with Brent hitting 4-1/2-month highs on continued fighting in Yemen while U.S. crude fell on worries of another upcoming stock build. Both benchmarks were headed toward weekly gains.

Brent crude rose 43 cents to settle at $65.28 a barrel. U.S. crude fell 59 cents to settle at $57.15.

Data showing a seventh straight monthly fall in U.S. business spending plans knocked the dollar lower and gave Federal Reserve policymakers even less reason to raise near-zero interest rates any time soon.

The euro rose 0.37 percent to $1.0864, while against the yen, the dollar was off 0.57 percent at 118.88 yen. The dollar index touched a three-week low and was last down 0.4 percent at 96.901.

U.S. Treasuries prices rose as weak U.S. business investment data for March supported the view that it is unlikely the Fed will signal next week it is close to raising rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

U.S. 10-year Treasury notes were up 10/32 in price to yield 1.9104 percent. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos and Herbert Lash; Editing by Toby Chopra, Jonathan Oatis, Dan Grebler and James Dalgleish)