LONDON, Jan 24 Reuters The euro held at a ninemonth top against the dollar and global equities bobbed at multimonth highs on Tuesday after reasonable European business activity data and a slew of corporate earnings kept risk appetite buoyant.

Euro zone business activity made a surprise return to growth in January, the latest sign that the downturn in the bloc may not be as deep as feared, according to a survey.

SP Global39;s flash Composite Purchasing Managers39; Index PMI, climbed to 50.2 this month from 49.3 in December, the first time it has been above the 50 mark since June.

Britain39;s flash Composite Purchasing Managers39; Index PMI however dropped to 47.8 in January from 49.0 in December, the lowest since January 2021.

MSCI39;s world index was up 0.1 and touched a fresh seven month high, as Europe39;s broad Stoxx 600 index held steady after shares gained in the U.S. overnight, and parts of Asia earlier in the day.

The MSCI world index is up about 7 since the start of this year, thanks to hopes central banks globally are nearing the end of their interest rate rising programme as well as optimism induced by economic data.

Britain39;s FTSE 100 was down 0.4, underperforming the broader European market, and domesticallyfocussed mid caps gave up early gains after the PMI data to trade near flat.

Most markets in Asia were closed for Lunar New Year for a second day, but Japan39;s Nikkei closed at a more than onemonth high, recovering all its losses since the Bank of…