Stocks rise on hopes over Greek deal, bonds fall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - World stock indexes rose and U.S. Treasuries prices fell on Monday as Greece made a new offer on a reform package to avoid a default on its debts, raising hopes that a deal with international creditors was still possible.

Gold prices fell as global equities jumped.

Athens on Monday presented new reform proposals including higher taxes and moves to curtail early retirement. Euro zone leaders voiced guarded optimism that the proposals could lead to a deal this week.

Greece is running out of cash to repay a 1.6 billion euro International Monetary Fund loan due at the end of the month unless it secures new financing from international creditors.

"This takes on anxiety off the table, even if it doesn't yet resolve the primary issues that made investors anxious in the first place," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland, Ohio.

MSCI's all-country stock index <.MIWD00000PUS> climbed 1.1 percent.

Greek stocks were 9 percent <.ATG> higher, while Greek bank shares surged 20.8 percent <.FTATBNK>. European shares <.FTEU3> ended up 2.4 percent.

The euro rose on the news, but the currency's gains faded as the flow of headlines ebbed into the European night.

By late New York trade, the euro remained in a tight trading range. The euro zone common currency traded at $1.13355, down 0.15 percent on the EBS trading platform, closing in on the Asian trading session high of $1.14040.

The euro rose nearly 1 percent against the yen, only to lose half of its gains to trade up 0.44 percent to 139.81 yen .

M&A BOOST

The Nasdaq closed at a record high, with U.S. stock market sentiment also boosted by merger and acquisition activity.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 104.53 points, or 0.58 percent, to 18,120.48, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 13 points, or 0.62 percent, to 2,122.99 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 36.97 points, or 0.72 percent, to 5,153.97.

Among deals helping U.S. stocks, Energy Transfer Equity LP confirmed it had made a $48 billion unsolicited bid for Williams Companies Inc , hours after Williams rejected the offer as significantly too low.

U.S. Treasuries prices tumbled on optimism over a Greek deal and as U.S. existing home sales data supported expectations of a September Federal Reserve rate hike. Italian, Spanish and Portuguese bonds rallied, with yields falling more than 20 basis points after the new offer by Greece.

Benchmark 10-year U.S. note prices were last down 26/32 to yield 2.36 percent, against a yield of 2.27 percent late Friday .

U.S. home resales surged to a 5-1/2-year high in May as first-time buyers stepped into the market. The data was the latest indication economic activity was gathering steam in the second quarter.

In commodities, signs of progress in Greek talks curbed safe-haven demand for gold. Spot gold fell as much as 1.5 percent to a session low of $1,181.90 an ounce and was down 1.3 percent at $1,184.01.

Crude oil futures ended slightly higher, reversing earlier losses as investors covered short positions ahead of the expiry of the front-month contract in U.S. crude.

Brent crude gained 32 cents at settle at $63.34 a barrel, while U.S. crude rose 7 cents to $59.68.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Bases, Sam Forgione, Ryan Vlastelica in New York, Jamie McGeever in London; Editing by Bernadette Baum and David Gregorio)

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