GLOBAL MARKETS-Yields rise as ECB trims bond purchases; Wall St gains

* U.S., European shares rise

* ECB spooks bonds, euro falls after initial surge

* China trade beats forecasts, commodity imports jump

* Oil rises after slip as investors eye more output cuts

* Graphic: World FX rates in 2016 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh (Updates to late afternoon, adds commentary)

By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 8 (Reuters) - Bond yields rose and the euro dipped on Thursday after the European Central Bank said it would slow its stimulus program from April, while Wall Street extended the previous session's gains.

European stocks rose after the ECB decision to reduce the long-running bond buying program to 60 billion euros a month, from 80 billion, from April to December 2017.

However, initial market reaction was tempered after ECB President Mario Draghi said it was not an outright winding-down of quantitative easing (QE), as policymakers want more evidence of a sustained pickup in inflation in Europe.

"Currencies are reacting more to the extension and bonds are focused on the taper," said Frances Donald, senior economist at Manulife Asset Management in Boston.

The euro was last down 1.4 percent at $1.0605 after surging to $1.0875 right after the bank's statement. The dollar rose 0.8 percent against a basket of major currencies after the ECB news and ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting next week.

The S&P 500 benchmark index rose with its biggest boost from financials, followed by the information technology sector.

"This is just a continued melt-up post-election. The path of least resistance has been higher," said Jason Ware, chief investment officer with Albion Financial Group in Salt Lake City. "Seasonally, you have a strong period. You have money coming out of the bond market ... so that money has to go somewhere."

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 54.68 points, or 0.28 percent, to 19,604.3, the S&P 500 had gained 2.53 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,243.88 and the Nasdaq Composite had added 5.76 points, or 0.11 percent, to 5,399.52.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note's yield was up 4 basis points at 2.389 percent, retreating from a session high of 2.427 percent.

Long-dated euro zone bond yields sold off after the ECB also introduced measures allowing it to buy more short-dated bonds.

"This announcement is what the market had feared the most, and it became a reality," said Commerzbank (Xetra: CBK100 - news) strategist David Schnautz adding that the news was "good for the short end, but at the expense of the long end."

Oil futures reversed course and rose after a three-day decline related to oversupply worries.

Brent futures were up 95 cents at $53.95 and U.S. crude settled up 1.07 at $50.84, as market watchers focused on a weekend meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC producers that may result in an agreement to cut crude output further.

Gold nudged 0.3 percent lower as the dollar rose

After initially turning negative following the ECB announcement, European shares extended gains with the STOXX up 1.2 percent, underpinned by the continued rally in banks, which rose 2.3 percent.

The gains in European stocks came after MSCI (Frankfurt: 3HM.F - news) 's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan rose 1.2 percent, hitting their highest point in almost a month. (Additional reporting by Lewis Krauskopf,Richard Leong and Karen Bretell in New York, Patrick Graham in London and Wayne Cole in Sydney; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Nick Zieminski)