By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity markets rose on Wednesday, with European shares hitting eight-year highs on Royal Dutch Shell's
Equity markets briefly sold off after U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed stockpiles of U.S. crude saw their largest weekly build since March 2001, leading crude oil prices to fall further.
News of the first major merger in the energy industry in more than a decade boosted European shares, led by a rally in energy stocks that had tumbled as prices for crude oil and gas plunged since last summer.
The STOXX energy sector index <.SXEP> in Europe, which rose as much as 6.1 percent, was last up 2.6 percent, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> of leading regional shares was up 0.04 percent.
"The sector has been ripe for consolidation given the bearish outlook for oil prices," said Saxo Bank trader Andrea Tueni. "We could see other takeovers in the industry in the coming weeks and months."
Rick Meckler, president of hedge fund LibertyView Capital Management LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey said Shell's bid is a big deal in a hard-hit sector that has been the weakest part of the equity market. But U.S. energy shares lagged, with oil super-majors Exxon Mobil
"What people are really waiting for are earnings, which either will give support for the next level or lead to a sell-off of sorts," Meckler said.
The blended estimate for U.S. first-quarter corporate earnings growth is a negative 2.8 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data, but excluding the energy sector, the earnings growth estimate is up 5.4 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 15.31 points, or 0.09 percent, to 17,890.73. The S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 1.42 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,077.75 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 20.32 points, or 0.41 percent, to 4,930.55.
MSCI's all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS>, which measures equity performance in 46 countries, rose 0.22 percent.
The dollar retreated after the Bank of Japan kept monetary policy unchanged, following the greenback's near three-week high against the yen on Tuesday.
The greenback also fell ahead of the release of Fed minutes at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) and the start of a U.S. earnings season that could show the negative impact of a strong currency and delay a long-expected rate hike in the world's largest economy.
The dollar shed 0.3 percent to 119.90 yen >. The dollar index <.DXY> fell 0.13 percent to 97.706, and the euro > gained 0.1 percent to $1.0824.
Oil prices fell below $58 a barrel as industry data showed a larger-than-expected weekly increase in U.S. stockpiles and as Saudi Arabia reported record output in March.
Brent May crude
Nervous investors drove safe-haven German Bund yields close to record lows on concerns over Greece's ability to resolve its debt crisis.
German 10-year yields > slid to 0.156 percent, just above a record low of 0.152 percent hit last week. Yields later rose to 0.165 percent.
U.S. government bond prices fell, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note > up 2/32 in price to yield 1.9004 percent.
(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by James Dalgleish)
