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| - Global stock markets bounced higher Monday following last week's blood-letting as bargain-buyers moved in, while silver prices soared to an eight-year peak after it became a new target of chatroom-driven retail buying, dealers said. "The fear that dominated the markets last week has faded," said market analyst David Madden at CMC Markets UK. Equity markets faced their biggest reverse in several months last week as surging infections and a stuttering vaccination rollout offset long-term hopes for the economic recovery. Fawad Razaqzada at ThinkMarkets said there has been "investor realisation that central bank QE stimulus will be running at full throttle for a while yet." Markets had also been worried that an online retail investors' attack on Wall Street short traders was forcing some to sell equities or close out positions to cover their backs -- and losses. After targeting shares in struggling video game store GameStop, retail investors have shifted to silver as their target. The price of the metal zoomed to an eight-year peak at $30.10 per ounce in early Monday morning deals, before paring gains. The precious metal has now soared by more than 16 percent since Thursday. "Silver prices jumped... as investor interest turned on the metal due to expectations Reddit traders will attempt to squeeze prices higher," said Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson. "Retail traders are herding into silver in the same way they have driven the likes of GameStop over the last week." Patrick J. O'Hare at Briefing.com called the jump in silver prices "the latest sign of the times". "We're talking silver futures, people -- or perhaps they would be referred to better today as silly futures," he added. Despite last week's losses the new week started on a positive note in Asia, with Hong Kong and Seoul up more than two percent, while Tokyo jumped more than one percent and Shanghai won 0.6 percent. Data out of China at the weekend showed that growth in economic activity appeared to have slowed in January as officials imposed fresh containment measures to counter new virus clusters in parts of the country. The positive tone on Asian markets carried over to European trading where the main indices all finished firmly higher. Meanwhile on Wall Street, the top indices were all higher in late morning trading, with the Dow climbing 0.6 percent. The spotlight was also still on Washington with lawmakers urged to approve new stimulus for the struggling US economy. There are expectations that President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion plan will be whittled down as Republicans look to lower the cost, and a group of 10 senators from the party have proposed an alternative package. Senator Susan Collins, a moderate, said the group would release details of their plan Monday. New York - Dow: UP 0.6 percent at 30,173.55 points EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.4 percent at 3,530.85 London - FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 6,466.42 (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 1.4 percent at 13,622.02 (close) Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.2 percent at 5,461.68 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.6 percent at 28,091.05 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 2.2 percent at 28,892.86 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 3,505.28 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.2085 from $1.2136 at 2200 GMT Dollar/yen: UP at 104.93 yen from 104.68 yen Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3669 from $1.3708 Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.38 pence from 88.53 pence West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $52.93 per barrel Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.5 percent at $55.89 per barrel burs-rl/wai
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