By Sam Forgione
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity markets rose on Friday as gains in Microsoft and Procter & Gamble buoyed U.S. shares, even as news that a New York City doctor tested positive for the Ebola virus produced a modest safe-haven bid for U.S. Treasuries.
MSCI's all-country world equity index was set for its biggest weekly gain since July 2013, while the benchmark U.S. S&P 500 was on pace for its first weekly gain in five and best week since the start of 2013, bolstered by solid U.S. corporate results.
News of the first person to test positive for Ebola in America's largest city weighed on European shares and held back buying in the United States, but overall the market's reaction to new Ebola cases was nowhere near as dramatic as the volatility witnessed earlier in October when fears of a rapid spread of the disease frightened investors.
"I think the fears are a bit overdone. In previous cases, such as avian flu, the virus ended up being contained quite quickly," said Caroline Vincent, European equities fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management.
Corporate earnings were mixed. Microsoft and Procter & Gamble rose following their quarterly results, offsetting a plunge in Amazon after the online retailer reported an earnings miss. Microsoft shares were last up 1.6 percent at $45.76, while Amazon shares were last down 8.2 percent at $287.44.
U.S. Treasuries prices were up slightly as worries about Ebola stoked safe-haven demand for low-risk U.S. government debt, even as prices pared some gains on news that a nurse in Dallas who contracted Ebola is now free of the virus.
The euro rose against the dollar on the view that a weekend update on the euro zone banking sector's financial health would not reveal too many problems at the region's top banks. As of the end of 2013, 25 banks failed the European stress tests, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
MSCI's all-country world equity index was last up 0.35 percent at 408.8. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed down 0.34 percent at 1,312.74.
The Dow Jones industrial average was last up 0.4 percent at 16,743.97, while the S&P 500 was up 0.31 percent at 1,956.96. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.25 percent at 4,463.72.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of six currencies, was down 0.15 percent at 85.714. U.S. 10-year Treasury notes were last up 4/32 in price to yield 2.2623 percent.
Oil prices fell, with Brent crude last down 0.45 percent at $86.44 a barrel, while U.S. crude lost 1.1 percent, at $81.19 per barrel.
(Reporting by Sam Forgione in New York; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak and Richard Leong in New York and Marc Jones in London; Editing by James Dalgleish and Chris Reese)
