* World stocks rise for fourth consecutive day
* European shares up 0.8 percent, Japan gains 1.6 percent
* Wall Street set for positive start, despite weak jobs data
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - World stocks rose for the fourth straight day on Friday despite poor U.S. jobs data as expectations grew that Washington will make new moves to shore up the battered financial system.
U.S. non-farm payrolls lost a worse-than-expected 598,000 jobs in January following 524,000 jobs shed in the previous month. But initial losses on U.S. stock index futures were quickly erased to set Wall Street up for gains along with most of Europe and Asia.
The U.S. Senate was due to resume debate on a $900 billion stimulus plan later in the day, after abruptly calling a halt to a drive to forge a bipartisan agreement on Thursday night. President Barack Obama urged action on the bill to stave off "catastrophe".
The combination of actions by governments to pump up economies and shore up the financial system has begin to build some confidence among investors.
MSCI's all-country world equity index was up 0.4 percent, its fourth gain in as many days and its seventh in the past 10. It is still trading in a fairly narrow range, however.
The index's emerging market counterpart has been far more bullish. It was up 2.7 percent on Friday.
"There are creeping expectations the policy efforts can succeed," said Bernard McAlinden, strategist at NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares was up 1.1 percent after the U.S. data. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei closed up 1.6 percent for its second consecutive week of gains.
"Expectations for fresh developments with U.S. economic measures next week, including the establishment of a 'bad bank', and a weaker yen are encouraging investors to pick up stocks," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, manager at SMBC Friend Securities.
WEAKER DOLLAR
The dollar initially weakened against the euro on the data but then recovered. The euro was flat after the jobs report at $1.2787 while the dollar was up 0.4 percent at 91.55 yen after climbing above 92 yen on Thursday.
Euro zone government bonds were mixed. Two-year yields were down 4 basis points at 1.378 percent and the 10-year Bund yield was flat at 3.325 percent.
(Additional reporting by Natsuko Waki, Brian Gorman and Tamawa Desai; editing by David Stamp)