China GDP data lifts world stocks, crude oil

By Herbert Lash

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stocks and oil prices surged in a relief rally on Friday after Chinese data eased fears of a potential hard landing for the world's No. 2 economy and a further blow to growth worldwide.

U.S. stocks broke a six-day losing streak, and the euro advanced against the dollar for the first time in four days as risk sentiment broadly improved and investors covered bets against the currency.

Wall Street surged in the last hour of the session in light trading, just pushing the Dow and S&P 500 into positive territory for the week. The Nasdaq also rose but remained in negative territory for the week.

"There was a little bit of short-covering going into the weekend, accelerating to the upside, but on very light volume," said Douglas DePietro, a managing director at Evercore Partners in New York. "I don't think there's a whole lot to make of it, maybe a little bit of buy program out there."

A 7.6 percent reading of gross domestic product growth in China was a hair above the government's expectations, bolstering sentiment across the board in commodities and buoying equities.

The euro rebounded from a fresh two-year low plumbed earlier in the day, as investors sought to cover bets against the currency and risk sentiment broadly improved.

"The data out of China suggested that things are not all that bad, and that's giving a relief rally," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives with the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

"But I think the rally today is a lot stronger than it should be, and I don't expect this to continue for very long."