By David Gaffen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares revived and bond yields rose in major markets on Thursday after China's central bank reassured investors there was no reason for its currency to keep falling.
Despite the renewed calm in markets, the yuan weakened for a third day and some forecast further declines in the face of a weak economy, even as People's Bank of China Vice-Governor Yi Gang dismissed talk of a deeper devaluation.
"They're taking the Chinese central bank at its word, but I'm still taking those comments with a pinch of salt," said Hantec Markets analyst Richard Perry.
The PBOC set its guidance rate at 6.4010 per dollar prior to the market opening, weaker than the previous fix of 6.3306. The gap between the guidance rate and the traded spot market rate narrowed sharply as banking sources said the PBOC had stepped up intervention to stabilise prices. It was lately traded at 6.3982 per dollar.
Traders remained cautious. Sources had told Reuters this week some powerful voices in the government were pushing for an even deeper yuan devaluation to help China's struggling exporters.
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Still, major U.S. and European stock indexes were higher and benchmark bond yields rose as investor fears of a currency war or substantial asset depreciation eased.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst index of leading 300 blue-chips rose 0.9 percent, while the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.5 percent.
U.S. equities, which had rebounded from steep losses Wednesday, were mostly higher. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 74.39 points, or 0.43 percent, to 17,476.90, the S&P 500 gained 6.30 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,092.25 and the Nasdaq Composite added 22.23 points, or 0.44 percent, to 5,066.62.
Oil prices neared their nadir for 2015 after refinery outages and data showing inventory builds revived concerns about oversupply.
U.S. crude settled down $1.07 at $42.23 a barrel, after setting a session bottom at $41.91, its lowest since March 2009 when the financial crisis was wreaking havoc on oil prices. Brent crude slipped 1.1 percent to $49.13.
U.S. FED FOCUS
The recovery in equities dimmed the allure of safe-haven government debt, pushing up U.S. and European bond yields.
German 10-year bond yields were 3 basis points higher at 0.63 percent while benchmark U.S. 10-year yields were up 6 basis points at 2.188 percent, following a lacklustre auction on Wednesday.
The dollar, which had also suffered as investors pared back bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve's long-awaited interest rate hike would come as early as its Sept. 16-17 meeting, rebounded on Thursday.
"China's statements maybe took some of the market's focus off of China and moved it back to the September rate meeting," said Chris Gaffney, president of EverBank World Markets in St. Louis. He said the statements alleviated concerns of a currency war.
The dollar index was up 0.2 percent at 96.47, rebounding from a one-month low of 95.926 hit on Wednesday. U.S. retail sales rebounded in July as households boosted purchases of automobiles and a range of other goods, suggesting solid momentum in the economy.
The euro edged down about 0.1 percent at $1.1142 after scaling a one-month peak of $1.1215 on Wednesday, helped by the unwinding of euro-funded carry trades in the yuan and other emerging market currencies.
Spot gold was down about 0.7 percent at $1,117.80 an ounce after logging its fifth straight session of gains.
(Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Jemima Kelly in London; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Nick Zieminski)