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* Euro STOXX 600 up 0.2%
* BA owner and Easyjet gain on shorter quarantine hopes
* Oil and gas, utilities, miners fall
* Dollar claws away form 27-month low
* Graphic: 2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Tom Wilson
LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - European stocks edged up on
Wednesday as a record high for U.S. stocks outweighed simmering
worries over a resurgence in coronavirus cases that could
undermine a nascent recovery.
The broad Euro STOXX 600 gained 0.1% in choppy
trading, with indexes from Frankfurt to London
making slim gains.
Among the bright spots were travel and leisure shares, with
British Airways owner up 3.7% on a British plan use
COVID-19 testing at London's Heathrow Airport to help shorten
the number of days that travellers have to spend in quarantine.
But oil and gas, utilities and mining
shares weighed, with BP and Royal Dutch Shell
losing around 0.6% as crude prices fell on worries
about demand and rising COVID-19 cases in Europe.
Early moves in Europe mirrored a volatile session for Asian
shares, where losses in Chinese and Hong Kong stocks erased an
earlier push to a seven-month high.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of
Japan fell 0.2%, after initial support from an
S&P 500's charge to a record high powered by looser
policy and charging tech stocks.
Wall Street futures pointed to slim gains.
Strategist said the tepid performance in Europe and Asia was
symptomatic of growing focus for investors: where to put money
before a coronavirus vaccine is found.
Money has poured into U.S. growth stocks -- the tech giants
and retail titans that have benefited most from the recovery --
as investors worry that in the absence of a vaccine a rise
coronavirus cases could further hurt "value" shares.
"It's hands down the biggest dilemma out there at the
moment," said Mike Bell, global market strategist, at J.P.
Morgan Asset Management.
"If you get a vaccine you are going to see a big rotation
out of the stocks that have done very well this year - the
growth stocks, the tech stocks - into the beaten up value stocks
- the hotels, the airlines."
Overnight, U.S. stocks set records as investors gravitated
to the stay-at-home winners from COVID-19 lockdowns such as
Amazon and Netflix.
The benchmark S&P 500 surpassed its February all-time high,
hit just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic pummelled
stocks to lows on March 23.
It has surged about 55% since those lows, fuelled by
monetary stimulus packages even as alarm bells ring over the
underlying health of the economy and negotiations over fiscal
stimulus in Washington drag on.
DOLLAR FLOORED
The U.S. Federal Reserve's intervention in financial markets
to maintain liquidity has pushed riskier assets to all-time
highs and reduced demand for safe-havens, battering the U.S.
dollar.
In early trading, the greenback clawed away from a
27-month low touched a day earlier, gaining 0.1% against a
basket of currencies to 92.256.
"The U.S. dollar left the building overnight," said Jeffrey
Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, citing the prospect for
further loosening of policy by the Federal Reserve as the
trigger.
Financial markets have "realised that the U.S. government
could issue as much debt as it wants".
Markets were also paying close attention to minutes from the
Fed's recent meeting due later in the day for any hints on what
the Fed could announce in September.
Some investors speculated the Fed will adopt an average
inflation target, which would seek to push inflation above 2%
for some time.
In commodities, Brent crude futures fell 45 cents,
or 0.6%, to $45.19 a barrel, on concerns that U.S. fuel demand
may not recover as quickly as expected amid stalled talks on an
economic stimulus package.
For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock
markets, please click on:
(Reporting by Tom Wilson;
Editing by Alison Williams)
