World stocks hit a one-month high on Wednesday and the euro briefly hit a two-week peak as strong gains on Wall Street and the relative success of this week's European debt auctions encouraged fresh risk-taking.

In a sign of improving risk appetite, the S&P 500 index <.SPX> turned positive for the year and rose above its 200-day moving average for the first time in a month on Tuesday.

Spain raised 5.2 billion euros ($6.42 billion) at an auction on Tuesday and Belgium netted 2.5 billion euros. Ireland also sold 1.5 billion euros of debt, attracting investors seeking value from higher-yielding debt.

The healthy demand from investors eased funding concerns over some highly indebted euro zone countries, which helped shift focus away from the sluggish growth outlook for the region.

The market has got over political, euro and sovereign debt worries, although none of those issues have gone away, said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management.

The market has gone back to looking at corporate valuations, which are looking good. Signs of lingering concerns over debt in the euro zone surfaced as the European Commission on Wednesday moved to deny a report that the European Union, the IMF and the U.S. Treasury were drawing up a liquidity plan for Spain including a credit line of up to 250 billion euros.

The Spanish/German 10-year government bond yield spread widened to 222 basis points, a euro lifetime high, following the report. Bund futures rose 20 ticks.

The MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 0.3 percent to hit its highest level since mid-May. The FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> rose 0.4 percent, extending a rally to six days. Emerging stocks <.MSCIEF> gained 0.7 percent.

U.S. crude oil was steady at $76.90 a barrel having topped above $77 earlier.

Oil is basically moving with stock markets and the stock markets are moving with optimism and pessimism over the euro, said Keichi Sano, general manager of research at SCM Securities in Tokyo.

Prices are getting into a higher range of $75-$85 for the coming two to three months.

The euro rose as high as $1.2355 before easing back to $1.2281, down 0.3 percent on the day.

The dollar <.DXY> rose 0.3 percent against a basket of major currencies.

(Additional reporting by Brian Gorman; editing by John Stonestreet)