GLOBAL MARKETS-European stocks shrug off coronavirus fears

* European shares gain 1.1%
* Too early to declare China virus a global emergency -WHO
* China, other Asian markets closed for Lunar New Year
holiday
* Safe haven Japanese yen, gold sold
* UK, euro zone PMIs in focus

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By Tom Wilson and Tomo Uetake
LONDON/TOKYO, Jan 24 (Reuters) - European shares on Friday
shrugged off worries over the coronavirus outbreak after the
World Health Organisation designated it an emergency for China
but not yet for the rest of the world.
The virus has killed 25 people and infected at least 800 in
China, where health authorities fear the infection rate could
accelerate as hundreds of millions of people travel over the
week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which began on Friday.
The broad Euro STOXX 600 .STOXX gained 1.1% in early
trading, with indexes in Frankfurt .GDAXI , Paris .FCHI and
London .FTSE all advancing similar amounts.
Shares in Bayer BAYGn.DE gained 2.5%, driven by a report
on a possible out-of-court settlement at a U.S. jury trial over
allegations that its weed-killer Roundup causes cancer.
Wall Street futures ESCcv1 pointed to slim gains.
The sunny start supported MSCI's world equity index
.MIWD00000PUS , which tracks shares in 49 countries. The index
gained 0.2%, with resilience among markets in Asia also helping.
There, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.12% amid slow trade for the Chinese
holiday. Financial markets in mainland China, Taiwan and South
Korea were closed on Friday.
As investors made bets on riskier assets, safe havens such
as the Japanese yen JPY= and gold XAU= stepped back.
The yen fell a touch to 109.57 yen against the dollar, off
two-week highs of 109.26 touched on Thursday. Gold fell 0.3%.
"Markets are waiting to see whether or not it has a material
imapct on growth, and that's hard to judge at the moment," said
Neil Wilson, chief analyst at Market.com.
Markets have reacted more calmly to the outbreak than was
the case during the SARS epidemic in 2003, Wilson said, possibly
because of greater information about its spread.
Still, underscoring the grave economic risks posed by any
deepening of the crisis, the National Australia Bank estimated
China's GDP growth for the first quarter could be hit by around
1 percentage point by the outbreak of the virus.
The Lunar New Year is a time of heavy consumption on travel,
gifts and entertainment.
"The impact on Chinese growth could be significant given the
outbreak coincides with the Chinese New Year," said Tapas
Strickland, NAB's director of economics in Sydney.

PMI IN FOCUS
Elsewhere, investors were paying attention to some of the
first indicators of how the global economy has performed this
year.
United Kingdom flash purchasing managers' index (PMI) data,
due out at 0930 GMT, may lend clues as to whether the Bank of
England will cut interest rates next week.
Weak PMI data would likely show that a gloomy mood in the
British economy persisted even after the Conservative party won
a resounding majority in the December election.
Euro zone PMI data, also due at 0900 GMT, are expected to
show an improvement that may provide some relief to the euro
EUR= .
The single currency traded at $1.1049 versus the dollar,
after falling overnight to a seven-week low of $1.1036.
The European Central Bank had on Thursday left its policy
rates unchanged, though President Christine Lagarde struck a
slightly dovish tone than some had expected.
Against a basket of six major currencies, the dollar .DXY
was flat, trading off two-week lows hit on Thursday.

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WHO says 'bit too early' to declare coronavirus a global
emergency is an emergency in China' says WHO, as virus death toll
rises to 18 Lagarde launches policy overhaul that will leave no stone
unturned bond yields plummet on cautious Lagarde tone, virus fears
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