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

* U.S. retail sales data indicates economy recovering

* Worries on Ukraine boost prices of gold, oil

* Euro undermined by ECB officials' talk of more easing

* Japan's Nikkei marks six-month closing low

(Updates market action, adds quote, changes byline; dateline

previously LONDON)

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.

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. The bounce back in

equities followed a sharp sell-off last week.

"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 rose

76.49 points, or 0.48 percent, to 16,103.24, the S&P 500

gained 9.54 points, or 0.53 percent, to 1,825.23, and the Nasdaq

Composite added 16.438 points, or 0.41 percent, to

4,016.172.

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 4.2

percent to $47.62.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks

shares in 45 nations, rose 0.3 percent at 405.45 points, erasing

an earlier loss of 0.3 percent.

The pan European FTSEurofirst 300 was 0.4 percent

higher at 1,318.58, also erasing earlier losses. The index shed

2.9 percent last week.

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.

But Russian shares tumbled 1.3 percent and the rouble

fell 0.8 percent to its weakest level against the dollar

in nearly three weeks as the tensions in Ukraine

weighed.

European Union foreign ministers were to hold talks later on

Monday about tougher sanctions against Russia.

The worry for many is that the two sides end up imposing

increasingly tough measures that will inevitably harm both.

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

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

a research note.

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 7/32

lower in price with a yield of 2.645 percent, and German Bund

futures fell 19 basis points to 143.89.

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 140.70 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 101.80 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 0.7

percent to $1,327.10 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 was last up 70 cents,

or 0.65 percent, at $108.03 a barrel. U.S. crude was last

up 12 cents, or 0.12 percent, at $103.86 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)