NEW YORK, April 25 ― Global equity benchmarks struggled yesterday as some US states began reopening businesses despite the disapproval of health experts, and as the European Union put off addressing details of its new economic rescue plan.

Safe-haven government bonds edged up while the dollar slipped, reflecting the market's unsettled direction. Oil's recovery lost some steam during the day.

MSCI's All Country World Index rose 0.45 per cent as losses in Europe weighed on US equity gains. The index is on pace for its worst weekly performance since March.

Investors are watching for health data from early-opening states to learn if they acted too quickly, said Stan Shipley, macro research analyst for Evercore ISI.

"The market is kind of stuck here,” Shipley said. "I don't think it will move far from here until we see that we can reopen the economy.”

As the US coronavirus death toll topped 50,000, Georgia pushed ahead with its plan to become the first state to allow an array of small businesses to reopen on Friday despite the disapproval of President Donald Trump and health experts.

On Wall Street, stocks got an afternoon lift from big market-cap techs Microsoft and Apple, which rose as much as 1.3 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively.

The S&P 500 gained 38.94 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 2,836.74 and the Nasdaq Composite added 139.77 points, or 1.65 per cent, to 8,634.52.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260.01 points, or 1.11 per cent, to 23,775.27, despite Boeing Co falling more than 5 per cent on a report the planemaker was planning to cut 787 Dreamliner output by about half.

The S&P ended the week down 12.2 percent for the year after having recovered half of what it lost from its February 19 high to its March 23 low.

EU leaders agreed on Thursday to build a trillion-euro emergency fund to help recover from the coronavirus outbreak, while leaving divisive details until the summer.

French President Emmanuel Macron said differences continued between EU governments over whether the fund should be transferring grant money, or simply making loans.

"The risk exists that a concrete decision on the creation of the recovery fund may not occur before September, thereby not being operational before early 2021,” Goldman Sachs European economist Alain Durre wrote in a note.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 1.10 per cent.

Investors remained in perceived safe-haven government bonds. Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 6/32 in price to yield 0.5914 per cent, from 0.611 per cent on Thursday.

The dollar index fell 0.269 per cent, but the euro rose 0.34 per cent to US$1.0813 (RM4.7149).

The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a US$484 billion bill to expand federal loans to small businesses and hospitals overwhelmed by patients.

Trump, who signed the Bill into law yesterday, said late Thursday he may need to extend social distancing guidelines to early summer.

Oil prices lost momentum during the day but broadly retained their recovery from this week's price collapse, which pushed US crude futures into negative territory for the first time ever. Prices were supported by producers such as Kuwait saying they would move to cut output.

US crude, which had been up as much as 5 per cent yesterday, was up 3.52 per cent at US$17.08 per barrel and Brent was at US$21.84, up 2.39 per cent on the day. ― Reuters