(Reuters) - Bets that European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi will open the door wider to U.S.-style money printing pinned the euro at a two-year low and lifted world shares on Thursday, as China and Japan also geared up for more stimulus. New forecasts from the ECB will spell out the euro zone's deepening economic malaise and though Draghi is not expected to formally announce the radical move of printing money to buy government bonds, markets are hoping he will lay the groundwork. In the meantime, the central bank could also add corporate bonds to its existing list of asset purchases and it is likely to encourage banks to mop up a flood of new ultra-cheap loans later this month. European stock markets <0#.INDEXE>[.EU] edged up in morning trading as investors awaited Draghi's 1330 GMT post-meeting news conference. Having slipped below $1.23 overnight for the first time since August 2012, the euro remained around that level. "The European Central Bank undertaking quantitative easing is at the top of the markets' Christmas wish list," said J.P. Morgan Asset Management Global Market Strategist Vincent Juvyns. Such a move remains strongly opposed by Germany, however, and ECB Vice-President Vitor Constancio said last week that the bank would be better able to gauge in the first quarter whether it needed to start buying sovereign bonds. Expectations of more stimulus from other global central banks was also lifting markets. In Asia, Chinese stocks .CSI300 took their biggest leap in over two years as traders wagered Beijing will continued cutting rates next year. Signs that stimulus-happy Shinzo Abe's coalition was heading for victory in Japan's upcoming elections meanwhile pushed the Nikkei to a near 7-1/2 year high and left the yen tantalisingly close to 120 yen JPY= to the dollar. "There's activity in anticipation of extremely promising conditions being born," said Hiroyuki Nakai, chief strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center Co in Tokyo. Data from the United States supported sentiment. It is one of the few major economies with any real strength and private jobs and services sector figures released on Wednesday underscored that resilience. PUTIN POWER Wall Street .SPX .DJI was expected to make further small gains when New York resumes having finished at another record high on Wednesday. Jobless claims figures are due ahead of Friday's more closely followed non-farm payrolls data. ECONG7 Elsewhere, battered oil prices steadied at $70 a barrel LCOc1 after an overnight bounce and gold XAU= managed to keep above $1,200 an ounce even as the dollar .DXY neared a 5-1/2-year high. Gold like most commodities is priced in dollars. The oil bounce brought temporary relief to Russia's battered rouble RUB= but it resumed its slide after Vladimir Putin blamed the West for "pure cynicism" over Ukraine. There were clear hints, however, that he was ready to take measures to prevent any further damage to the rouble which has now lost almost 40 percent since June. "I ask the central bank and the government to carry out tough coordinated action to fight off the desire of the so-called speculators to play on the fluctuations of the Russian currency," he said. "The authorities know who these speculators are and has instruments to influence them. The time has come to use those instruments."

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