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GLOBAL MARKETS-Oil surges 5 pct; corporate reports spur stock gains

* Key index of world stock markets up near one-year high

* Dow industrials rise to fresh intraday record

* Oil up as Saudis mulls meeting, IEA sees market tighten (Updates with afternoon trading)

By Lewis Krauskopf

NEW YORK, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Stocks in the United States and Europe raced higher on Thursday helped by encouraging corporate reports, while oil prices surged over 4 percent triggered by comments from the Saudi oil minister and a forecast that crude markets are set to tighten.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 stock index climbed 0.9 percent to its highest close since late May helped by results from scents and flavours maker Symrise (LSE: 0G6T.L - news) and consumer group Henkel (LSE: 0IZ8.L - news) .

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Major U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . stock indexes posted solid gains, with the Dow industrials minting a fresh intraday record high. U.S. labor data showed a drop in jobless claims, and shares of department store operators Macy's and Kohls soared after their quarterly reports.

With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) bond yields low in developed economies as central banks maintain accommodative monetary policies, investors have sought out equities for yield.

"There seems to be little risk that central banks, either domestically or internationally, are going to do anything to disrupt what has been a fragile global recovery," said Alan Gayle, director of asset allocation at RidgeWorth Investments in Atlanta (BSE: ATLANTA.BO - news) , Georgia.

"That stance reassures investors that potential downside risk is likely to be limited, and so it's more likely to respond positively to any good news."

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 140.19 points, or 0.76 percent, to 18,635.85, the S&P 500 gained 12.22 points, or 0.56 percent, to 2,187.71 and the Nasdaq Composite added 29.30 points, or 0.56 percent, to 5,233.89.

The energy sector was the best-performing major S&P group, up 1.5 percent, buoyed by the rise in oil prices.

MSCI (NYSE: MSCI - news) 's all-world index rose 0.4 percent to nearly a year high for a fifth session of gains out of the past six.

Oil prices jumped after comments from the Saudi oil minister about possible action to stabilize prices triggered a round of buying and the International Energy Agency forecast crude markets would tighten in the second half of 2016.

"Oil's drop ... has put the 'glut' back into the headlines even though our balances show essentially no oversupply during the second half of the year," the Paris-based IEA said in its monthly report.

Brent futures rose 4.2 percent to $45.90 a barrel and U.S. crude rose 4 percent to $43.37.

The U.S. dollar edged up 0.2 percent against a basket of currencies. The greenback has traded within a relatively tight range this month as investors wait for new indications on when the Federal Reserve is likely to next raise interest rates.

U.S. Treasury yields rose after a 30-year bond auction.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes were down 19/32 in price for a yield of 1.566 percent. (Additional reporting by Karen Brettell, Richard Leong and Devika Krishna Kumar in New York and Marc Jones in London; Editing by Bernadette Baum and James Dalgleish)