GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks rise as investors eye Fed revamp; gold hits all-time high

By Chris Prentice and Amanda Cooper

NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Global equities rose on Friday as investors clung to the view that U.S. interest rates may fall further this year, with European shares posting their biggest weekly gain in 12 weeks on strength from banking stocks.

U.S. gold futures hit a record high on uncertainty over whether country-specific U.S. import tariffs would apply to the most commonly traded sizes of gold bars.

Investors watched for signs of a potential Russia-Ukraine ceasefire after a report that the United States and Russia are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine.

Expectations of a potential truce weighed on oil prices, which also were under pressure from a tariff-hit economic outlook.

President Donald Trump on Thursday moved to reshape the U.S. central bank, nominating Council of Economic Advisers' Chair Stephen Miran for a short-term board seat after Adriana Kugler's abrupt exit.

Miran holds similar views to Trump, who has berated Powell for being "too late" in cutting rates, even though growth is holding up and inflation is ticking higher.

"It locks in a vote for rate cuts at all the meetings between now and the end of January," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank in Sydney.

"Markets are already travelling with a very strong expectation that there will be a rate cut," he added. "Though there's a question mark over whether he'll succeed in ratification in time for the September meeting."

Bloomberg News reported that Fed Governor Christopher Waller was emerging as a leading contender for the chair.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS rose 0.61%, nearing a record high struck two weeks ago.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.56% to 44,216.64, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.84% to 6,393.37 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC jumped 1.01% to 21,458.14.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.2% to finish the week up more than 2% as largely upbeat corporate results and firming bets of more Fed rate cuts lifted prices from last week's five-week lows.

Shares also saw a lift from optimism that hefty U.S. tariffs that kicked in on Thursday would be subject to negotiation.

Zurich's SMI index .SSMI edged higher as traders continued to shrug off Switzerland's 39% U.S. tariff coming into effect.

"The effective shock (from tariffs) is there. So the question now is: How is it going to impact the economy and the data, and when? Because up to now, up to now, let's be fair, it's been less severe than most have anticipated," Lombard Odier economist Samy Chaar said.

Overall tariffs may be lower than many had feared back in April, but they are at their highest in at least a century.

Relief over lower-than-expected duties may be short-lived as a result. For instance, the European Union now has a 15% tariff rather than the 50% that Trump had threatened, Chaar said.

"That's the vulnerability in the market. ... It is focusing on the good news, which is not getting the 50%, but getting the 15%. And then the problem is that 15% is actually a big shock and, at some point, it's going to show in the data," he said.

U.S. Treasury yields rose on Friday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note poised for its first weekly gain in three weeks after a series of weak auctions. US/

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection service released a ruling on its website on Friday, which the gold industry interpreted as meaning that country-specific U.S. import tariffs could apply to the most-traded sizes of gold bars in the U.S.

December U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled 1.1% higher at $3,491.30 per ounce after hitting a record $3,534.10 when the Financial Times first reported the news.

Spot gold XAU= was last up 0.11% to $3,400.69 an ounce.

Among other commodities, Brent oil futures LCOc1 were on track to fall nearly 5% this week, while WTI was set to finish down more than 5% from last Friday's close.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR rose 3.9 basis points to 4.283%.

The Japanese yen JPY= weakened 0.35%.

The dollar index =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, edged up 0.18%, with the euro EUR= down 0.05%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed down 0.63%, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 1.85%.