GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, U.S. dollar rally on China trade surprise, banks up

(Updates to Americas trading, updates prices, adds quote, changes byline, dateline, previous NEW YORK)

* Upbeat China data boosts sentiment

* Oil flirts with key trend break

* JP Morgan, bank stocks in focus

By David Gaffen

NEW YORK, April 13 (Reuters) - Major stock markets rose on Wednesday after surprisingly upbeat Chinese international trade data offered hope Asia's biggest economy is finally stabilising.

In turn, the U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . dollar rose to a two week high against the euro, as stronger Chinese economic growth might allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again.

Broader equity indices were also helped by a rise in U.S. bank stocks after JPMorgan Chase (Swiss: JPM.SW - news) 's first quarter earnings fell nearly 7.0 percent but beat lowered expectations. European bank stocks rose on optimism about Italy's fund to shore up weak lenders.

Oil prices slipped after a rise in U.S. oil inventories reported overnight, but crude oil prices have rallied almost 20 percent in the last week ahead of a meeting of major producers on April 17 which may freeze output.

U.S. crude oil lost nearly 2.0 percent to $41.40, easing back from a four-month high, but also held above the 200-day moving average around $40.95 as attention turns to this weekend's meeting of top oil producers in Doha, Qatar.

"The recovery in oil has given the market a little bit of a positive tone this week," said John Brady, managing director at R.J. O'Brien & Associates in Chicago.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 124.27 points, or 0.7 percent, to 17,845.52, the S&P 500 gained 13.64 points, or 0.66 percent, to 2,075.36 and the Nasdaq Composite added 55.91 points, or 1.15 percent, to 4,928.00.

Europe's FTSEuroFirst index of leading 300 shares posted its biggest gain in a month, rising 2.4 percent to a two-week high of 1,334 points, and Germany's DAX and France's CAC also rose more than 2 percent .

Gains in equities in Europe were led by banks, which rose more than 5.0 percent, as investors welcomed assurances from Italy's economy minister that European authorities will not block the country's bank fund.

China reported exports jumped 11.5 percent year on year in March, the first increase since June, well above market forecasts.

Chinese stocks added 1.4 percent, while Japan's Nikkei rose 2.8 percent for its biggest daily gain in six weeks.

JPMorgan Chase said net profit was down nearly 7.0 percent, but earnings per share and revenue beat expectations, and its shares rose 3.7 percent.

OIL AT CRITICAL JUNCTURE

Brent crude was down 1.5 percent at $44.02 a barrel, after breaching the 200-day moving average around $43.50 on Tuesday, the first time it has scaled this key technical level in almost two years.

Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi ruled out an output cut, in comments to Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper published on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia and other oil major producers meet in Qatar on Sunday to discuss a freeze in output to support the price of oil.

The lift in energy overnight temporarily boosted the currencies of countries dependent on commodity exports including the Canadian and Australian dollars, before the rally faded. zzled. The Aussie fell 0.5 percent against the U.S. dollar while the Canadian dollar fell 0.3 percent .

The euro fell 0.9 percent against the dollar to $1.1285 , helping the dollar index to climb 0.8 percent to 94.704 and further away from its near eight-month low of 93.627 struck recently.

U.S. Treasury bond yields were little changed, with the 10-year yielding 1.783 percent. The dollar's strength helped drive gold down 0.9 percent to $1,244 an ounce .

(Reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by Toby Chopra and Clive McKeef)