*

World stocks inch up, trade quiet due to UK, Japan

holidays

*

Sentiment supported by renewed US rate cut bets

*

Weaker yen keeps markets alert to possible BOJ

intervention

(Adds quote in paragraph 17, updates prices)

By Nell Mackenzie and Rae Wee

LONDON/SINGAPORE, May 6 (Reuters) - Global stocks ticked

higher on renewed bets that the Federal Reserve would likely

ease interest rates this year, while the yen weakened after a

strong surge last week from Tokyo's suspected currency

intervention.

With the UK and Japan on public holidays, markets in

mainland China and Europe got off to an upbeat start, with

Friday's softer-than-anticipated U.S. jobs report underpinning

sentiment by renewing market rate-cut bets.

Europe's broadest stock index rose 0.4% while S&P

500 and Nasdaq futures added 0.2% each in a

positive sign for the Wall Street open later on.

Oil prices were also in focus on the prospects of Saudi

Arabian price hikes and rising tensions in the Middle East, with

Brent futures up 80 cents to $83.76 a barrel and U.S.

crude futures 91 cents higher to $79.02 per barrel.

On Monday, Israel's military called on Palestinian civilians

to evacuate Rafah as part of a "limited scope" operation, but

did not immediately confirm media reports this was part of

preparation for a ground assault.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

peaked at its highest level since February 2023

and last gained 0.57%, while China's blue-chip index

closed 1.5% higher.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 4.7% last week and

on Friday clocked its longest daily winning streak since 2018,

closing on Monday 0.55% higher.

The rebound in Chinese markets followed the country's

Politburo meeting, where policymakers said they will step up

support for the economy with prudent monetary and proactive

fiscal policies.

A long-awaited recovery in the Chinese economy is also

gaining momentum. Data on Monday showed the country's services

activity expansion slowed a touch amid rising costs, but growth

in new orders accelerated and business sentiment rose.

Markets globally have also enjoyed a boost from Friday's

U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.

That reinforced bets Fed rate cuts would most likely come

this year, after Chair Jerome Powell also maintained the central

bank's easing bias last week.

"(The) data point to a jobs market that is still tight, but

not nearly as hot as it was a year or two ago," said economists

at Wells Fargo. "This should support a further slowdown in

inflation as the year progresses, even if improvement proceeds

only gradually."

Traders would be closely watching whether the S&P rises

beyond the 50 day moving average of 5130 on Monday, an important

price point in the S&P, said Florian Ielpo, head of macro at

Lombard Odier Investment Managers.

"If we breach this level we'll continue to see an uptrend of

new highs but if it is missed, it could take a couple of days or

even weeks to return to these levels," said Ielpo.

In Europe, Goldman Sachs ( GS ) raised its 2024 EPS growth forecast

for STOXX 600 companies to 6% from 3% earlier, the bank

said in a note on Friday.

According to Goldman, a 10% annual rise in Brent prices adds

about 2.5 pp (percentage points) to annual EPS growth, and a 10%

weaker euro/dollar exchange rate adds about the same.

The dollar held broadly steady on Monday, leaving the

euro away from a one-month high to last trade at

$1.0769, while sterling similarly edged lower and last

bought $1.2545.

INTERVENTION WATCH

Elsewhere, traders remained on alert for further volatility

in the yen, after last week's bouts of suspected intervention

from Japanese authorities to stop a sharp slide in the currency.

Tokyo is suspected of having spent more than 9 trillion yen

($59 billion) to support its currency last week, as suggested by

data from Bank of Japan, taking the yen from a 34-year low of

160.245 per dollar to a roughly one-month high of 151.86 over

the span of a week.

The yen gave back some of those gains on Monday

and was last 0.5% lower at 153.750 per dollar, after briefly

weakening past the 154 level earlier in the session.

Gold tacked on 0.7% to $2,317 an ounce.

($1 = 153.5700 yen)