* Global shares rebound but post worst week since June 2012
* Gold, oil off lows but remain vulnerable to renewed slide
* Dollar gains vs yen on officials' comments to G20
* IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) shares post worst day in 8 years, a drag on Dow
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, April 19 (Reuters) - World equity markets and oil
prices rebounded on Friday in a relief rally after a sell-off
this week that was triggered by signs of sluggish global growth.
A lockdown and citywide search for a suspect in the Boston
Marathon bombing after another suspect was killed did not appear
to have an impact on prices, although trading volume may have
suffered at bit. Boston is a major U.S. financial center.
Brent crude oil stabilized above $99 a barrel in a second
day of gains, while stocks on Wall Street and in Europe advanced
in a market still rattled by global demand concerns.
Stocks sold off earlier in the week on recent weak economic
data and a plunge in commodity prices. The major European and
U.S. indices posted their worst weekly performances this year.
The S&P 500's close below the 50-day moving average on
Thursday suggested the medium-term uptrend in the market could
be in peril. The last time the index closed consecutive days
under its 50-day average was in early December.
Volume initially appeared subdued because of this week's
sell-off and as no U.S. economic data was released on Friday.
Equity turnover of 6.4 billion shares was in line with this
year's daily average, but low for a day in which options
expired.
Wall Street's advance was a reaction to the recent declines
more than anything, according to Jack De Gan, chief investment
officer at Harbor Advisory Corp in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
"It's a relief rally after the last couple of days," he
said.
Despite the sell-off, the S&P is still up about 9 percent
for the year and the pullback could lead investors to
re-evaluate their positions, said Michael Sheldon, chief market
strategist at RD Financial in Westport, Connecticut.
"Unless there's a shock to the system, investors will move
back into the market as we head through earnings season, but now
investors have an opportunity to study the winners and losers
more closely," Sheldon said.
Marquee tech names bolstered the market and drove the Nasdaq
up more than 1 percent, a day after Google Inc (NasdaqGS: GOOG - news) and
Microsoft Corp posted strong earnings. Google closed
just shy of $800 a share.
The Dow Industrials traded down for much of the session,
hurt by a rare quarterly earnings miss from International
Business Machines Corp. Three brokerages cut their price
targets for the company, whose shares fell 8.3 percent to
$190.00 and weighed heavily on the Dow, which rallied just
before the close.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 10.37
points, or 0.07 percent, at 14,547.51. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index rose 13.64 points, or 0.88 percent, at 1,555.25.
The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 39.69 points, or 1.25
percent, at 3,206.06.
MSCI (NYSE: MSCI - news) 's all-country world equity index, which
tracks about 9,000 stocks in 45 countries, rose 0.6 percent to
355.94. For the week, the index posted its biggest percentage
decline since June.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 of leading regional
shares rose 0.5 percent to close at 1,153.19.
The index was down 2.4 percent for the week, marred by
weaker economic data from Europe's growth powerhouse, Germany,
as well as more forecast-lagging data from the United States.
The U.S. dollar extended its gains on the yen after Japanese
officials in Washington said the global community understands
its monetary policy is directed at domestic issues rather than
currency manipulation.
The euro rose to a session high against the dollar after
European Central Bank board member Jensen Weidman said interest
rates in Europe are appropriate. The euro later pared
gains.
The dollar rose 1.44 percent to 99.54 yen, leaving it
within sight of the four-year peak of 99.95 yen reached last
week.
The euro traded almost flat at $1.3048.
U.S. stock gains supported a "risk-on" trade in crude oil,
sending Brent briefly above $100 a barrel. But worries about
global demand and oversupply have kept a lid on the rebound.
Brent crude rose 52 cents to settle at $99.65 a
barrel. U.S. crude rose 28 cents to settle at $88.01 a
barrel.
"This remains a market very much driven by the equity
markets. They've been rebounding and we're just knocking along
with that," said Kyle Cooper, managing director of research at
IA Advisors in Houston.
"Crude inventories are at an all-time high, but we're up
today," he added. "There are some people who want to believe
it's a physical market, but it's not. It's a financial market."
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was
down 6/32 in price to yield 1.7049 percent.
