By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
NEW YORK (Reuters) - World stocks and U.S. Treasury yields rose on Monday ahead of an impending speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on monetary policy, while the U.S. dollar steadied against a basket of key currencies, stabilizing above its lowest in more than three weeks.
A gauge of global equity markets ticked higher, lifted by energy stocks, as Brent crude oil prices jumped to a fresh seven-month high following Friday's sharp slide in the dollar.
The greenback, which suffered its biggest one-day drop against a basket of major currencies (DXY) in four months on Friday after a poor payrolls report, was last down 0.02 percent at 94.007.
Traders awaited clues on the timing of a Fed interest rate hike from Yellen, who is scheduled to speak about the U.S. economy and monetary policy at an event in Philadelphia at 12:30 p.m. (1630 GMT).
On May 27, Yellen said a rate increase might be appropriate in the coming months if the economy and jobs market improve further.
"After Friday's data, markets are clearly interested in any change in her message from two Fridays ago," ScotiaBank analysts wrote in a research note.
World equity markets were higher, and the MSCI's all-country world equity index (MIWD00000PUS) was up 0.57 percent, on pace for its third session of gains.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) was up 99.44 points, or 0.56 percent, at 17,906.5, the S&P 500 (SPX) was up 9.5 points, or 0.45 percent, at 2,108.63 and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) added 19.03 points, or 0.39 percent, at 4,961.55.
Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index (FTEU3) was up 0.51 percent at 1,346.36, bolstered by gains in major mining and oil company shares, including Anglo American (L:AAL), Rio Tinto (L:RIO) and BHP Billiton (L:BLT).
In the U.S. Treasury market, yields rose as investors evaluated whether the weak jobs report for May would make it less likely for the Fed to raise rates in the coming months. Higher rates could curb spending and investment by individuals and companies, possibly hurting economic growth.
Rising yields on Monday likely reflected stronger risk sentiment as stocks gained, rather than expectations that Yellen will strike a more hawkish tone, said Thomas Simons, a money market economist at Jefferies in New York.
"It's a general 'risk-on' tone a little bit, but I don't think there's a lot of conviction behind that because there are more people on 'wait-and-see' mode than are willing to stick their neck out," he said.
Benchmark 10-year notes (US10YT=RR) fell 6/32 in price to yield 1.725 percent, up from a two-month low of 1.697 percent on Friday.
Brent crude oil prices rose above $50 a barrel to their highest since early November, lifted by Friday's dollar weakness that could spur demand just as attacks on Nigerian oil infrastructure tightened supplies.
A weaker dollar supports fuel demand in the rest of the world as it makes dollar-traded oil imports cheaper.
Brent crude (LCOc1) was last up 2.2 percent, at $50.75 a barrel. U.S. crude (CLc1) was last up 2.5 percent at $49.83 per barrel.
Spot gold prices