(New throughout, adds oil, gold settlement prices)
* Oil surges on U.S. plans to end Iran export sanctionwaivers
* European oil companies lift regional equity indexes
* Wall Street gains on strong corporate results
* Dollar strong as traders await U.S. GDP data on Friday
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - Global equity markets ralliedon Tuesday as the U.S. Nasdaq and S&P 500 stock indexes marchedtoward record highs, while European energy shares posted theirbiggest daily gain since January as crude prices surged.
Wall Street soared on upbeat results from Coca-Cola,Twitter, United Technologies and Lockheed Martin, which easedfears of a profit recession in a busy week for U.S. corporateearnings.
European shares rebounded from early weakness, pushing theSTOXX 600 index to eight-month highs at the close. Theenergy-heavy FTSE 100 in London led regional gains, up0.85 percent at a more than six-month high.
European oil and gas shares jumped 2%, with BP Plcand Royal Dutch Shell Plc leading gains inLondon, while the FTSEurofirst 300 Index <.FTEU3) of leadingEuropean shares hit eight-month highs.
The S&P and Nasdaq indexes breached their record closinghighs during the session. The benchmark S&P 500 has surged about17% this year, helped by a largely upbeat earnings season, hopesof a U.S.-China trade resolution and a dovish Federal Reserve.
The government shutdown earlier this year weakened the U.S.economy and corporate growth but since March companies have doneextraordinarily well and growth continues strong, said GeorgeBoyan, president of Leumi Investment Services in New York.
"We remain overweight (in equities) and any type of pullbackwe would view as an opportunity to add equity exposure," Boyansaid. "We've enjoyed quite a run but there's nothing to cause meto want to take off exposure at this point."
Twitter surged 15.7%, its biggest single-day jump sinceOctober 2017, after posting better-than-expected quarterlyrevenue and a surprising rise in monthly active users.
Lockheed Martin posted better-than-expectedquarterly profit as U.S. President Donald Trump's looserpolicies on foreign arms sales boosted demand for missiles andfighter jets. Shares rose 5.8%.
News that the United States told buyers of Iranian oil tostop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions lifted Brent, theglobal benchmark, and made for a lively return from afour-day Easter break for European markets.
Rising crude prices are a bullish sign of a stable economyand consumer, Boyan said. If prices rise much further it couldspeed the pace of inflation and cause the Fed to engage in moretightening, "but I don't think we're there yet," he said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 136.92 points,or 0.52%, to 26,647.97. The S&P 500 gained 26.34 points,or 0.91%, to 2,934.31 and the Nasdaq Composite added107.99 points, or 1.35%, to 8,123.25.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globegained 0.55%.
The dollar climbed across the board as traders favored thegreenback ahead of Friday's release of U.S. gross domesticproduct for the first three months of 2019.
The dollar was supported by data that showed sales of newU.S. single-family homes jumped to a near 1-1/2-year high inMarch.
The data followed recent upbeat news on retail sales andexports, which have eased concerns of a sharply slowing U.S.economy, analysts said.
The dollar index, which measures the greenbackagainst six currencies, rose 0.38% after hitting its highestsince June 2017. The euro fell 0.4% against the dollar, slippingbelow $1.12 for the first time in nearly three weeks.
The Japanese yen fell 0.01% versus the greenback at111.82 per dollar.
Oil prices hit their highest since November.
Brent crude futures rose as high as $74.73, a levelnot seen since Nov. 1, before paring gains. Brent futuressettled up 47 cents to $74.51 a barrel. U.S. West TexasIntermediate crude futures rose 75 cents to settle at$66.30 a barrel.
Treasury yields fell, a counter-trend in the broader rise inyields over the past month. As the economic outlook hasimproved, yields have risen back from late-March lows.
Benchmark 10-year notes rose 5/32 in price topush its yield down to 2.5704%.
The Swiss franc burrowed to a new 16-month low on talk ofeven more negative rates. Two usual beneficiaries of higher oilprices, the Canadian dollar and Norwegian crown,both struggled despite the crude rally.
In China, major benchmarks had dipped in and out ofnegative territory on concern that Beijing will slow the pace ofpolicy easing after unexpectedly strong first-quarter economicdata last week.
China's blue-chip stocks have surged over 30percent so far this year on expectations of more stimulus andhopes Beijing and Washington will reach an agreement to endtheir nine-month trade dispute.
U.S. gold futures settled 0.3 percent lower at$1,273.20 an ounce.
(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by Richard Chang and DavidGregorio)
