GLOBAL MARKETS-Europe cheers Italy pact, bond bulls pause for breath

In This Article:

* European shares and Italy and Greece bonds rally on Rome pact

* Yields on US 30-yr, German 10-yr bonds edge up off record lows

* Gold near 6-year high, silver shines

* Pound groggy after UK parliament suspension plans

* Argentina says wants to restructure chunk of debt

By Marc Jones

LONDON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Signs that Italy's latest political drama was over and hopeful noises from Beijing in the trade war pushed Europe's share markets higher on Thursday and paused the relentless steamrollering of global bond yields.

There was still plenty for bearish investors to chew on, however: A sudden rush from Argentina to restructure its debt thrust emerging market risk back into the spotlight, global recession worries simmered, and the pound was groggy after another Brexit-related tumble.

Nevertheless, European shares rose nearly 1% early on led by a 1.7% jump in Italy where the government's bond market borrowing costs also rallied to record lows.

That was after the country's 5-Star Movement and opposition Democratic Party said they would try to form a coalition, setting aside years of hostility to avert a snap election and the economic uncertainty that comes with it.

The two sides still need to agree on a shared policy platform and a team of ministers, but 5-Star chief Luigi Di Maio and his PD counterpart Nicola Zingaretti said they had pledged to find common ground for the good of the country.

"We love Italy and we consider it worthwhile to try this experience," Zingaretti told reporters. Speaking shortly afterwards, Di Maio said: "We made commitments to the Italians...and come what may we want to fulfil them."

There was little reaction from the euro but there was barely any currency market action generally.

The Japanese yen was a touch higher heading for its biggest monthly rise since May, while sterling was flirting with a January 2017 low of $1.2015 against the dollar after Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan on Wednesday to suspend Britain's parliament increased no-deal Brexit nerves.

China's yuan had dipped for an 11th straight session although a firmer-than-expected central bank fixing helped stem deeper losses and against a basket of currencies the dollar was steady around 98.190.

On the latest trade war development, China said it and the United States were discussing the next round of face-to-face trade talks in September and voiced hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump would cancel plans for additional trade tariffs.

In the latest tit-for-tat escalation of the trade war between the world's two largest economies, Trump last Friday announced additional duties of 5% on targeted Chinese imports worth about $550 billion to be imposed in stages from Sept 1 to mid-December.