Last checked at 
* Wall Street futures up 0.34%, Chicago PMI at 1445 GMT
* World stocks up 14% this year, 70% from March lows
* Euro hits highest since April 2018 vs dollar
*
* Graphic: 2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open
higher and world stocks edged towards recent record highs on
Wednesday, with investor hopes of a strong economic recovery
next year also pushing the safe-haven dollar to its lowest since
April 2018.
Europe's main markets were heading for a sixth straight
session of gains as AstraZeneca and Oxford
University's coronavirus vaccine became the second to be
approved by Britain, helping the FTSE 100 add 0.1%,
though it stuck below the previous day's nine-month highs.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.34% after U.S. stocks had
retreated from an intraday record high on Tuesday.
Conviction that global monetary authorities will continue to
pump liquidity into the banking system has been underpinning
riskier assets in recent weeks.
"Familiar themes are still in play," said Ned Rumpeltin
European head of currency strategy at TD Securities. "Today is a
day very much of where we've been is where we are."
The U.S. Senate was due on Wednesday to hold a procedural
vote that could pave the way for Congress to override U.S.
President Donald Trump's veto of a key defense bill.
Also on Wednesday, the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index
data for December at 1445 GMT is forecast to give a reading of
57, according to a Reuters poll, against last month's 58.2.
A new, more transmittable variant of the virus is spreading
rapidly, including to the United States, but European Union
countries have also begun rolling out Pfizer and
BioNTech's vaccine this week.
"The prospect of more rapid and widespread inoculation will
be a shot of confidence to markets as the COVID-19 struggle
intensifies," said Janet Mui, investment director at wealth
manager Brewin Dolphin.
MSCI’s world stocks index rose 0.25% to
within touching distance of the record highs it had set on
Tuesday.
The index is up 14% this year and nearly 70% from its March
lows, boosted by trillions of dollars in global economic
stimulus and expectations that coronavirus vaccines will re-open
locked-down economies.
TRADE DEAL
Away from the virus worries, British lawmakers were set to
vote on the UK-EU trade deal later on Wednesday, a day before a
Brexit transition arrangement expires.
MSCI's gauge of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan
rose 1.4% to a record high, led by gains in
Chinese shares and bringing its gains this year to 19%.
Japan's Nikkei share average lost 0.45%, however, on
its last trading day of 2020 after jumping to a 30-year high on
Tuesday.
In currency markets, the dollar's weakness continued. It
dropped again on Wednesday, the first day where settlement of
trades will be in 2021.
The U.S. dollar index fell 0.3% to its lowest since
April 2018. The euro reached its highest since April 2018 at
close to $1.23.
The Australian dollar rose 0.9% to $0.7673, a
two-and-a-half-year high. Sterling rose 0.8% above
$1.36.
Bitcoin jumped to a record $28,599.99, after the
digital currency almost quadrupled in value this year amid
heightened interest from bigger investors.
German 10-year bond yields - which move
inversely to price - ticked up to -0.56%.
Oil gained ground as the dollar weakened, U.S. crude oil
inventories declined and Britain approved a second coronavirus
vaccine, though it was set to end the year about 20% lower.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up
0.94% at $48.45 a barrel. Gold was steady at $1,878
an ounce.
(Editing by Larry King)
