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China's yuan strengthens

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Copper, oil also higher after China announcement

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10-year Treasury yields nearly flat

(Updates to 2:40 p.m. ET)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A widely followed global

stock index rose to a record high and copper prices hit their

strongest level in 10 weeks on Tuesday after China unveiled

stimulus measures to support its economy, while China's yuan hit

a 16-month high against the U.S. dollar.

People's Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng announced

plans to lower borrowing costs and inject more funds into the

economy, as well as to ease households' mortgage repayment

burden.

Pan also said China would roll out structural monetary

policy tools for the first time to help stabilize capital

markets.

The S&P 500 moved lower after data showed U.S. consumer

confidence unexpectedly fell in September amid mounting worries

over the health of the labor market. But the index was last up

slightly.

Investors are looking for clues on the Federal Reserve's

next move after the U.S. central bank began its latest easing

cycle last week with a 50 basis point cut in interest rates.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe was

last up 4.42 points, or 0.53%, at 844.47. The STOXX 600

index rose 0.65%.

Earlier, the blue-chip CSI300 index and the

Shanghai Composite index surged, while Hong Kong's Hang

Seng Index jumped to a four-month high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.81 points, or

0.01%, to 42,128.93, the S&P 500 rose 8.29 points, or

0.15%, to 5,726.88 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 78.97

points, or 0.44%, to 18,053.24.

"Between now and the time the Fed meets, we'll have a couple

of jobs reports. They've told us unemployment now is the thing

that's driving rate cut decisions. The soft landing is when

unemployment doesn't start skyrocketing," said Kim Forrest,

chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners.

U.S. rate futures have priced in a 56.5% chance of another

super-sized rate cut of 50 bps at the November meeting, with a

43.5% odds of the more standard 25 easing.

U.S. crude rose $1.19 to settle at $71.56 a barrel

and Brent rose to $75.17 per barrel, up $1.27 on the

day.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange

climbed by 2.7% to $9,802 a metric ton by 1615 GMT after hitting

its highest since July 15 at $9,825. China is a top metals

consumer.

In other commodities, spot gold rose 1.07% to

$2,656.61 an ounce.

Risk appetite improved after China's stimulus measures.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were little changed from the

day before. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes

rose 0.1 basis points to 3.739%, from 3.738% late on

Monday.

The U.S. dollar index extended declines after the consumer

confidence data.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

fell 0.46% to 100.47, with the euro up 0.48% at $1.1165.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened

0.13% to 143.42.

In a speech at a meeting with business leaders in Osaka

on Tuesday, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said it can afford to spend

time scrutinizing market and overseas economic developments in

setting monetary policy.

The Australian dollar strengthened 0.67% versus the

greenback to $0.6884.

The Reserve Bank of Australia held interest rates steady, as

expected, and reiterated that policy needed to stay tight, in

contrast to the U.S. Federal Reserve which started its easing

cycle with a 50 basis point (bp) cut last week.

(Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar, Ankur Banerjee, Johann

M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal; Editing by Mark Potter, Marguerita

Choy and Deepa Babington)