Stocks broadly higher as oil rises; euro up vs. Swiss franc

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock markets around the world were mostly higher on Thursday as crude oil rebounded, but a plunge in Greek banking stocks took a toll on European equities after the European Central Bank's surprise decision to strike Greek bonds off its list of accepted collateral.

U.S. equities rose, with energy shares among the biggest gainers, and were also supported by an upbeat report on the labor market.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst <.FTEU3> share index was flat. The MSCI International ACWI Price Index <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 0.5 percent.

The ECB move increases the pressure on Greece to put new reforms in place. Greek bank shares plunged over 10 percent <.FTATBNK>, and the country's short-term debt yields surged to almost 16 percent .

The euro rose 0.7 percent against the dollar after tumbling overnight. The euro also rose against the Swiss franc on speculation the Swiss National Bank was buying euros and as currency traders took a sanguine view on developments surrounding Greece.

The common currency was helped by the strongest rise in German industrial orders since early 2008.

The U.S. dollar index <.DXY>, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, dipped 0.2 percent. The yen fell 0.1 percent against the dollar .

U.S. crude futures rose 7.2 percent to $51.92 per barrel on falling output and rising violence in Libya. Oil has risen in five of the past six sessions, and so far this year there have been only four sessions with moves less than 1 percent. Despite the recent rise, oil remains down more than 50 percent from a high reached in June.

"It will be some time yet before we see any sustained trend reversal in oil prices," said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank. "There's no basis for a sustained recovery at the moment."

On Wall Street encouraging jobless claims data, which came a day before Friday's non-farm payrolls figures, boosted sentiment, along with news that Pfizer would buy Hospira Inc for about $15 billion.

"Employment continues to improve at a fairly moderate pace, which feels breakneck compared to the past, which means people are getting jobs and that is a big positive for the economy," said David Heidel, regional investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

"The problem is every time we get confirmation that the jobs picture is improving, it also sparks worries the Federal Reserve will act sooner (rather) than later to raise rates and continues this schizophrenic up and down," Heidel said.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 158.59 points, or 0.9 percent, to 17,831.61, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 17.27 points, or 0.85 percent, to 2,058.78, and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 33.17 points, or 0.7 percent, to 4,749.87.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 6/32 in price, pushing the yield up to 1.8153 percent.

Gold prices fell 0.6 percent. Silver lost 1.7 percent. Copper slid after inventories jumped by 13 percent, evidence of weak demand and excess metal.

(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Leslie Adler)