LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks rose near a six-month peak on Friday and the dollar hit a 3-1/2 month high against the yen as hopes for a long-awaited Greek bailout deal next week following on from strong U.S. data encouraged investors to buy riskier assets.
Greece expects to get approval on Monday from euro zone finance ministers to begin a debt swap with private bondholders, a spokesman for the Greek government said, moving closer to averting a disorderly default.
"While events in Greece continue to ebb and flow, some underlying feeling that Europe has come too far for efforts to fail appears to be supporting sentiment," Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.
The euro held well above the three-week trough of around $1.2973 it hit on Thursday, trading little changed at $1.3143,
The MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> rose half a percent, approaching a six-month peak set last week. European stocks <.FTEU3> rose 0.3 percent while emerging stocks <.MSCIEF> added more than 1 percent.
U.S. stocks <.SPX> hit a nine-month peak on Thursday after U.S. labor, manufacturing and housing data suggested the recovery continued at a steady pace.
The CBOE Volatility index <.VIX>, Wall Street's gauge of market nervousness, dropped 8.7 percent on Thursday, its biggest decline since Dec 9.
Bund futures fell 46 ticks. The dollar rose as high as 79.17 yen while the euro was steady at $1.3140.
