World stocks at record high, oil up on strong China, US data

"With the vaccine roll-out fairly advanced and talk positive about the future state of the economy, investors are once again seeing opportunity rather than threat in UK shares," said Adam Vettese, an analyst at multi-asset investment platform eToro.

US stock futures pointed to a slightly lower open, with S&P futures down 0.06 percent and Nasdaq futures down 0.2 percent.

Overnight, Asian markets had tracked a path similar to Europe's. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.4 percent, with Shanghai shares adding 0.8 percent and Japan's Nikkei up 0.1 percent.

Driving the move was Chinese data showing record 18.3 percent growth in the first quarter, though the reading slightly undershot expectations. Retail sales bounced strongly last month.

"We remain focused on a China-led rebound steadily helping the Asia-Pacific region," said Sebastien Galy, senior macro strategist at Nordea Asset Management.

"As the US economy and then European economies open up, it should further help Asian exports. This should support Emerging Market and APAC equities as well as China equities and fixed income."

Despite the punchy GDP number, gains were tempered by the view that Beijing will act to rein in the brisk expansion later in the year to stop the economy overheating.

"Regulators might make further efforts to cool down the property market and control domestic leverage. Fiscal discipline might also be strengthened, leading to deceleration in local government financing and infrastructure investment," said Chaoping Zhu, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management in Shanghai.

The strong Chinese data had followed similarly upbeat numbers out of the United States overnight. Retail sales rebounded 9.8 percent in March, pushing the level of sales 17.1 percent above its pre-pandemic level to a record high.

The brightening economic prospects were underscored by other data, including first-time claims for unemployment benefits, which tumbled last week to the lowest level since March 2020.

All of which helped oil prices push on, hitting one-month highs thanks to the economic data and higher demand forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and OPEC.

Brent futures were last up 0.3 percent at USD 67.12 per barrel. US crude was 0.2 percent higher at USD 63.59 per barrel, both on course for their first substantial weekly gains in six.

Despite the strong data, US bond yields dropped, in part driven by buying from Japan, which began a new financial year this month. The 10-year US Treasuries yield hovered near its five-week low of 1.589 percent.

In the currency market, lower US yields were a drag on the dollar overnight, although the dollar index had recovered to trade flat early in the European session.

The euro was flat at USD 1.1967, having hit a six-week high of USD 1.19935 overnight. The pound was down 0.3 percent at USD 1.3740.

Gold also fell from a seven-week high of USD 1,769 per ounce to trade at USD 1,763.70.