* MSCI world equity index gains 0.5 percent at 244.09
* Commodities, high-yielding FX rise
* Yen slips, oil gains on increased risk appetite
By Simon Falush
LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Equities, commodities and high yielding currencies rose on Friday while bonds and the yen fell, as U.S. jobs and factory data the previous session rekindled hopes that the global economy may be recovering from recession.
The sharp equity market rally which began in early March began to stall at the start of the week as nervousness on the state of the world's economy started to creep back.
But Thursday's U.S. data that showed the first drop in the number of unemployed people remaining on benefit rolls since January and the biggest decline since 2001 heartened investors and helped stocks move back to an upward path.
The reading on the Philadelphia Federal Reserve business activity index was the highest since September 2008, also lifting sentiment.
An option expiry on equity index futures, index options and stock options on Friday also helped investors buy back securities, boosting the major equity indexes. Emerging markets equities also gained ground as investors were more comfortable moving into higher risk assets.
"This is an end-of-the-week correction, we did not have any bad news so the market is a little firmer," said Nigel Rendell, emerging markets strategist at RBC.
By 1135 GMT the MSCI world equity index was up 0.5 percent, but was still down 3.4 percent for the week.
The yen, which tends to suffer as an appetite for risk grows, fell 0.5 percent to 134.90 per euro while the high yielding Australian dollar gained around 1 percent.
DEMAND OUTLOOK BRIGHTENS
Also reflecting the slightly sunnier outlook for the global economy and a brighter demand outlook, oil rose 1 percent above $72 per barrel while metal prices were also broadly higher.
This helped heavyweight oil and gas producers and miners drive European equity markets higher. Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 was up 1.1 percent.
Futures indicated that the U.S. equity market was also set to rise with the S&P 500 futures up 0.5 percent.
Euro zone government bond futures fell to a four-session low as investors exited the relatively risk-free asset in favour of equities. U.S. bond dealers were spooked on Thursday after the Treasury said it would sell a record $104 billion of debt next week.
Investors were sceptical about whether the upward move in equities could last.
"The data aren't enough to start an upward trend," said Lee Hardman, currency economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. "The markets needs to see more hard evidence to confirm the improvement that they expect."
Highlighting pressures facing the economy German producer prices fell by 3.6 percent year-on-year in May, the biggest annual decline since April 1987, the Federal Statistics Office said.
But further cause for cautious optimism came from the International Monetary Fund which is likely to revise up its 2010 forecast for the world economy, a senior IMF official said on Friday. (Additional reporting by Carolyn Cohn and Tamawa Desai; Editing by Toby Chopra)