LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in Asia and Europe followed Wall Street higher on Friday as steep falls earlier this week attracted bargain hunters, while intensifying concerns about the UK economy knocked sterling to fresh 13-year lows.
Oil fell again below $58 a barrel. Government bonds fell as a rally in shares and data showing a surprise rise in French third-quarter growth sapped demand for less risky assets.
"Whilst most observers would agree that a technical recession is almost inevitable across the globe, positive economic data will help ease fears about the length and severity of a sustained downturn," said Chris Hossain, senior sales manager at ODL Securities. MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS rose 1.3 percent after falling to a two-week low on Thursday. The FTSEurofirst 300 index climbed more than 3 percent. Emerging stocks .MSCIEF rose 1.6 percent.
Sterling fell 0.7 percent to 80.7 on a trade weighted basis, its lowest since late 1995.
The pound has been on a downward spiral since the Bank of England gave a gloomy outlook for the economy on Wednesday, fanning expectations of further interest rate cuts after a shock 1.5 point rate cut last week.
U.S. crude oil lost 1.4 percent to $57.49, falling $90 from its record high in July.
December bund futures fell 28 ticks.
The dollar .DXY rose 0.3 percent against a basket of major currencies. The yen rose 0.7 percent to 97.00 per dollar.
Investors are shifting their focus to the weekend meeting of G20 political leaders in Washington, which will discuss ways to protect the global economy from a repeat of the worst financial crisis in 80 years.
Expectations for dramatic measures are not high.
"The best that might occur would be a reiteration of commitments by governments to cooperate in reigniting global activity and possibly some increase in support for IMF lending from large surplus/reserves rich countries," Barclays Capital said in a note to clients.
"The downside is if disagreements on the causes of the crisis and long-term financial market reforms obscure the common ground on immediate policy needs."
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash, editing by Mike Peacock)
