In This Article:
* Euro STOXX 600 hits record highs
* Scant consensus on market impact of coronavirus
* Hopes of government stimulus support shares globally
* Mainland China shares have recovered most of virus-caused losses
* Euro falls to 3-year low ahead of GDP data
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
* Graphic on coronavirus https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 (Change byline, dateline; releads top, updates price throughout)
By Tom Wilson and Hideyuki Sano
LONDON/TOKYO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - European shares touched record highs on Friday as investors digested whether China's coronavirus outbreak would cause long-lasting damage to global economy.
Europe's broad Euro STOXX 600 clawed up 0.1% to follow Asian markets higher in choppy early trading, even as indexes in Paris and London both fell 0.2%.
In both cases, corporate results weighed, with a 5% fall for AstraZeneca dragging London shares down as the drugmaker said it would take a hit from the coronavirus outbreak.
France's Renault, meanwhile, fell 4.2% on its first loss in 10 years as it set a lower operating margin goal for 2020, a crunch year for its planned reboot alongside partner Nissan after a scandal surrounding former boss Carlos Ghosn.
The virus outbreak showed no sign of peaking, with health authorities reporting more than 5,000 new cases.
China's National Health Commission said it had recorded 121 new deaths on the mainland on Feb. 13, taking the accumulated total infected to 63,851 people.
Yet some investors are betting that the economic impact of the outbreak will not be long-lasting, finding succour in a spread beyond China that is not as rapid as feared.
Others have latched on to the possibility of further central bank stimulus measures in response to any slowdown. China's central bank, for example, has already pumped liquidity into its economy.
Yet there is by no means a consensus that such a sunny take is warranted. Some investors said they were dialing down bets on equities amid the uncertainty over what economic toll the coronavirus would take.
"We have actually taken some money out of equities this week," said Rory McPherson, head of investment strategy at Psigma Investment Management, adding that it was temporarily holding cash instead.
"Markets have been overly focused on the good, and not giving a balanced view on whether the stimulus from China isn't effective, and if the coronavirus spreads and impacts the economy more."
MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, was flat. Wall Street futures were pointing to a slighly higher open.