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Corporate results and US PCE inflation the week's focus

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Brent, gold prices fall

(Updated at 1104 a.m. EST (1504 GMT))

By Chris Prentice and Alun John

NEW YORK/LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Investors scaled

back safe-haven bets on Monday as worries over a wider Middle

East conflict eased, boosting world equities and pressuring

gold, oil and bond prices.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe

rose 2.62 points, or 0.35%, to 745.90 by 11:04 a.m. EST (1504

GMT).

In a reversal of Friday's "risk off" mood, spot gold

lost 2.1% to $2,340.25 an ounce, poised for its biggest one-day

drop in over a year.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose

0.13% to 38,037.07, the S&P 500 gained 0.19% to 4,976.62

and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.09% to 15,296.43.

Investors have taken cautious positions on Fridays in recent

weeks, fearing an escalation in the conflict in the Middle East

over the weekend when markets are closed and they are unable to

trade.

"It seems neither Israel nor Iran want an escalation in the

crisis in the Middle East," said Kazuo Kamitani, a strategist at

Nomura Securities. "With a subsequent strike from either side

not looking like it's coming, investor concerns have eased

somewhat."

But expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and

concerns about chip sector earnings will continue to keep

investors on their toes, he said.

More than 150 companies in the S&P 500 and 173 companies in

the STOXX 600 are slated to report first quarter results this

week, according to data from LSEG Workspace.

These include several big European banks, as well as U.S.

tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet, with the latter in

particular focus after chip maker Nvidia's 10% drop on Friday,

its biggest percentage fall in four years.

The STOXX 600 index rose 0.68%. MSCI's broadest

index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.95%.

Traders were expecting the first Fed rate cut as most likely

coming in September following Consumer Price Index data earlier

this month, though July was also seen as possible.

"The big picture in equities is that they have been able to

digest this push back in rate expectations," said Karim Chedid,

Blackrock's chief investment strategist for iShares EMEA.

"Now earnings have to deliver for them to continue to do

well."

London's commodities-heavy FTSE-100 rose 1.72%,

nearing an all-time high as tin and nickel rose to multi-month

peaks.

It was outpaced by a 3.11% gain for the Portuguese index

as oil company Galp Energia rose nearly 20%

after saying a field off Namibia could contain 10 bln barrels of

oil.

Iran said on Friday that it had no plan to retaliate

following an apparent Israeli drone attack within its borders,

which in turn followed an Iranian missile and drone attack on

Israel days before.

HAVEN OUTFLOWS

Bond yields - which climb when prices fall - were generally

heading back toward multi-month highs.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose

1 basis points to 4.625%, from 4.615% late on Friday and the

30-year bond yield rose 1.9 basis points to 4.7303%

from 4.711% previously.

In Europe, the benchmark Bund yield hit a new 5-month high.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against

six major peers, 0.1% at 106.21. The euro was down 0.1%

at $1.0643.

"As long as there is this uncertainty about the cutting

cycle particularly in the U.S, it's interesting for investors to

be in dollar longs because of its dual status as a high yielding

currency and also a defensive currency," said Yvan Berthoux, FX

strategist at UBS.

Crude oil fell as traders put the focus back on fundamentals

with a rise in U.S. stockpiles as the backdrop.

Brent futures 0.57% to $86.79 per barrel as U.S.

crude lost 0.26% to $82.92.