* U.S. S&P futures up 0.24%
* Australian stocks hit record closing high
* Oil prices up on rising Middle East tensions
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The dollar hit eight-day highs on
Thursday after hawkish remarks from a senior U.S. Federal
Reserve official, while European stocks hit record highs on
strong company earnings.
U.S. S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 0.24%, indicating
a stronger open on Wall Street, after the S&P receded
from a record high on Wednesday.
Many stock markets around the world have been on a storming
run in the past year, boosted by billions of dollars in monetary
and fiscal stimulus.
Investors are focused on whether some of that stimulus could
be rolled back.
U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida, a major
architect of the Fed's new policy strategy, said on Wednesday he
felt the conditions for raising interest rates could be met by
the end of 2022, raising expectations the central bank could
scale back its bond-buying programme soon.
"It's a question not of if the Fed taper but how fast the
Fed taper," said Giles Coghlan, chief currency analyst at HYCM,
adding he expected tapering of the asset purchase programme to
start in August or September.
"Clarida has definitely taken a shift."
Clarida's remarks supported the dollar and U.S. yields.
The dollar was steady at 92.200 against an index of
currencies after hitting an eight-day high of 92.352. It
was flat against the yen at 109.46, while the euro
was also little changed at $1.1845.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was last at
1.170%, having on Wednesday touched 1.127% - its lowest level
since February.
European stocks hit record highs, up 0.16%, on
strong earnings from Danish diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk
and German industrial firm Siemens.
German 10-year bond yields hit their lowest
since January and were down 3 basis points at -0.518%, below the
European Central Bank's -0.50% policy rate.
UK stocks fell 0.22% and the pound rose 0.25%
against the dollar after the Bank of England kept the
size of its bond-buying programme unchanged and held its
benchmark interest rate at a historic low of 0.1%.
"The MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) has chosen to keep the
wheels spinning and will wait longer to start putting the brakes
on," said Hinesh Patel, portfolio manager at Quilter Investors.
The MSCI world shares index was steady at
729.83, versus a record peak of 731.88 hit on Wednesday.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
was down 0.29%.
The Asian regional benchmark has recovered most of the
ground lost a week ago, when a series of Chinese regulatory
crackdowns on sectors from property to education squeezed
Chinese stocks and overshadowed the region as a whole.
The Chinese blue chip index was down 0.61%,
weighed primarily by investors dumping online gaming companies,
fertilizer producers and e-cigarette makers fearing criticism of
these industries in state media could portend more government
crackdowns.
Australian shares hit a record closing high, led by
banking stocks. Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.52%.
Oil prices rose on rising Middle East tensions, though fresh
movement restrictions imposed by countries to counter a surge in
COVID-19 cases threatened the demand recovery.
U.S. crude gained 0.28% to $68.41 a barrel while
Brent crude rose 0.28% to $70.57 per barrel.
Gold edged up 0.1% to $1,813.40 an ounce.
Ether, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency,
dropped 3.8% having gained 8.7% a day earlier ahead of a
technical adjustment to its underlying ethereum blockchain,
which should happen later on Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Alun John in Hong Kong; editing by
Giles Elgood, Kirsten Donovan)