Greek Deal Boosts Global Shares

Greece's deal with international lenders for more money in return for more budget austerity lifted world equities on Friday and drained demand for safe-haven government bonds.

Oil prices rose slightly after tumbling to a 4-month low in the previous session on news of an International Energy Agency-coordinated release of emergency stockpiles.

The euro rose against the dollar after Germany's Ifo unexpectedly showed business confidence rising.

Late on Thursday, European Union leaders promised more money to help Greece stave off looming bankruptcy, on condition that the parliament in Athens next Tuesday enacts an austerity plan finalised in fraught last-minute talks with international lenders.

Though still fragile, the agreement was enough to lure investors back into riskier assets which they had dumped in the run up to the pact.

"The agreement has been received well by the markets," said Ian Richards, European equity strategist at RBS.

"We have got to get through the votes on June 28. It looks like it will go through, but it's not a formality. So the market is going to be cognisant of that near-term risk."

World stocks as measured by MSCI were up 0.6 percent, hauling themselves just back into positive territory for the year-to-date.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 stock index gained 0.9 percent after losing more than 1 percent in the previous session.

Earlier Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark gained 0.9 percent to close at a three-week high.

EURO RISES

Foreign exchange traders were less robust about the Greek deal, focusing on the struggles ahead for the euro.

"The euro is struggling a bit and this deal isn't really a game changer," said Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at CIBC World Markets. "It just brings into focus the hurdles the Greeks have to cross with these austerity measures."

But the currency rose to $1.4240 against the dollar after the Munich-based Ifo think tank said its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms, rose to 114.5 in June compared with expectations for a drop to 113.5.

Yields on core euro zone government bonds rise in line with the gains on stock markets.

Investors, however, remained highly cautious about the state of peripheral debt, with the cost of insuring Greek and Portuguese debt rising.

(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag and Atul Prakash; editing by Patrick Graham)