Stock futures signal gains on China yuan move

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, rising alongside global stocks after China's vow to allow a flexible yuan exchange rate boosted investors' appetite for risky assets.

* At 3:05 a.m. ET, futures for the S&P 500 were up 1.6 percent, Dow Jones futures were up 1.4 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 1.6 percent.

* China's yuan bolted to a 21-month high on Monday, suggesting authorities are unshackling the currency from its de facto 23-month-old peg to the dollar after vowing greater flexibility at the weekend.

Asian currencies and stocks rose and U.S. Treasuries fell on expectations that China's promise to give the currency new room to move would ease political tensions with the West and encourage investors to snap up riskier assets.

* Crude prices rose 2 percent on Monday to the highest since early May after China vowed to allow a flexible yuan exchange rate, raising expectations of higher petroleum imports by the world's second-largest oil user.

* Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> powered to a one-month closing high on Monday while European stocks were up 1.5 percent in morning trade, led by banking stocks such as HSBC and Banco Santander .

* U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase is in talks to buy a large Brazilian asset management company, the Financial Times reported in its Monday edition.

* Landry's Restaurants Inc Chief Executive Tilman Fertitta's $1.4 billion bid for the seafood restaurant operator received the support of a crucial shareholder on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

* Liberty Media Corp, the media conglomerate controlled by mogul John Malone, said on Sunday it plans to spin-off two of its units -- investment arm Liberty Capital and pay TV and Hollywood studio unit Liberty Starz .

* U.S.-based Corn Products International will buy the National Starch business of Dutch paints firm AkzoNobel for $1.3 billion in cash, completing the Dutch firm's carve-out of non-core businesses.

* British television production company Shed Media on Monday confirmed it was in offer talks with Warner Bros Entertainment Inc, a unit of Hollywood media group Time Warner .

* U.S. stocks ground higher in another lightly traded session on Friday, ending a nervous week with gains despite signs of economic weakness at home and worries about public debt in Europe.

* The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 16.47 points, or 0.16 percent, to 10,450.64. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 1.47 points, or 0.13 percent, to 1,117.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 2.64 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,309.80.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)