GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks climb on upbeat U.S. data; euro falls

* U.S. retail sales data indicates economy recovering

* Results of Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) boost financial shares on Wall St

* Renewed fears over Ukraine lift gold, oil prices

* ECB's hints of more policy easing knock down euro

(Updates with Wall Street closing levels)

By Richard Leong

NEW YORK (Frankfurt: HX6.F - news) , April 14 (Reuters) - Global equities rose on

Monday as robust U.S. retail sales data signaled economic

growth, while the euro fell after the European Central Bank gave

its strongest signal yet that it would ease policy to cool the

single currency.

The encouraging retail sales from the world's biggest

economy, which had been bogged down by a harsh winter, overrode

fears of a military conflict in Ukraine that had punished stock

prices earlier. The upbeat news was a respite for the Standard &

Poor's and Nasdaq indexes, which had just suffered their worst

week since June 2012.

Ukraine's president threatened military action after

pro-Russian separatists occupying government buildings in the

east ignored an ultimatum to leave and another group of rebels

attacked a police headquarters in the region. The flare-up came

less than a month after Russia completed its annexation of

Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula.

But the data showing that U.S. retail sales jumped 1.1

percent in March, the biggest monthly rise in 1-1/2 years, drew

investors back into riskier investments.

"This is the first report that activity is bouncing back

from the winter weather," said Craig Dismuke, chief economic

strategist at Vining Sparks in Memphis, Tennessee. "This should

set the foundation for stocks to go up a bit and bond yields to

go higher."

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average

closed up 146.42 points, or 0.91 percent, to 16,173.17, the S&P

500 gained 14.88 points, or 0.82 percent, to 1,830.57,

and the Nasdaq Composite added 22.96 points, or 0.57

percent, to 4,022.694.

Financial stocks were among the largest gainers after Citi

said its quarterly net profit rose as a smaller loss on

its troubled assets offset lower revenue and profit from its

core trading and lending businesses. Citi shares jumped 4.4

percent to $47.67.

Biotech shares remained volatile, ending flat in a

session that saw the group rise as much as 2.7 percent and fall

as much as 1.9 percent. The group entered bear market territory

- defined as a 20 percent drop from its peak - on Friday.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks

shares in 45 nations, rose 0.3 percent to 405.26 points.

The pan European FTSEurofirst 300 ended 0.5 percent

higher at 1,319.46. The index shed 2.9 percent last week.

Cyclical shares lagged broader indexes as the tension in

Ukraine and volatile global markets prompted investors to take a

more cautious stance and cash in on some of the best performers

of the past nine months

The tensions over Ukraine took a toll on Russian shares

, which tumbled 1.3 percent, while the rouble fell 0.8

percent to its weakest level against the dollar in nearly

three weeks.

European Union foreign ministers agreed to widen sanctions

against Moscow, while the White House said it was seeking ways

to impose more "costs" on Russia. Renewed tension between Russia

and the West raised anxiety of imposing increasingly tough

measures that will inevitably harm both sides.

"The escalation sharply increases risks of an all-out civil

war in Ukraine," Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said in

a research note.

Earlier, Japan's Nikkei stock average ended down 0.4

percent at a six-month closing low. It plunged 7.3 percent last

week, the biggest weekly fall since the devastating earthquake

and tsunami in March 2011.

The stabilization in stock prices led some traders to pare

their holdings in less risky U.S. and German government bonds.

Benchmark 10-year Treasuries notes were 5/32

lower in price with a yield of 2.639 percent, and German Bund

futures fell 22 basis points to 143.86.

EURO FALLS

More promises from the ECB over the weekend that it will

take action to head off further gains in the euro pulled the

euro back to $1.3821, down 0.45 percent from Friday's high of

$1.3905. Against the yen, the euro fell 0.3 percent to

140.65 yen, near the low end of its trading range

since early March.

"The strengthening of the exchange rate would require

further monetary policy accommodation," ECB head Mario Draghi

said at a weekend meeting of the International Monetary Fund.

Benoit Coeure, another top ECB member, also laid out some

asset-buying options, a tactic which appears to be finally

gaining traction at the central bank.

The ECB "is taking the value of the euro more seriously in

their approach to monetary policy," said Thierry Albert Wizman,

global interest rates and currencies strategist at Macquarie Ltd

in New York.

The dollar gained against most major currencies on the

strong March retail sales report. It nudged up nearly 0.2

percent to 101.74 yen after touching a 3-1/2-week low of

101.32 yen on Friday, though that was far from the 2-1/2-month

high of 104.13 yen set on April 4.

Among commodities, spot gold benefited from the move

toward safe-haven assets on the worries over Ukraine, adding 0.5

percent to $1,325.40 an ounce, after earlier marking a

three-week high.

Oil prices were also underpinned by fears that the tension

between Russia and Ukraine could escalate. Ukraine is a major

supply route for Russian gas to Europe.

Brent crude for May delivery settled up $1.74, or

1.62 percent, at $109.07 a barrel. U.S. crude settled up

31 cents, or 0.30 percent, at $104.05 per barrel.

(Additional reporting by Sam Forgione in New York, Marc Jones

and Marius Zaharia in London, Megan Davies in Moscow; Editing by

Leslie Adler)