NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity markets gained and the dollar held steady on Thursday ahead of the G20 summit where a scheduled meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping has stirred hopes that trade tensions could ease.

The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, May 29, 2019. REUTERS/Staff/File Photo

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told Fox News there were no preconditions and nothing was agreed before the Trump-Xi meeting on Saturday. Earlier, a Hong Kong report indicated a truce had been reached, which eased worries Trump would impose new tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods.

The trade war has crimped manufacturing and begun to slow growth, so hopes for a truce rekindled investor interest in riskier assets and weighed on safe havens.

Optimism was tempered by a Wall Street Journal report that Xi planned to present Trump with a set of terms Washington should meet before Beijing is ready to settle.

“I continue to be very skeptical that the U.S., at least this current administration, will reach a deal with China,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in New York.

“I can’t find any compelling reasons why China would make real concessions to the U.S.,” Hooper said.

The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the dollar against the euro, Japanese yen, sterling and three other currencies, traded slightly lower at 96.200. The dollar was little changed against the euro EUR= and the yen JPY=.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS gained 0.42%, while both the pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX and the FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 of leading regional shares closed basically at break-even.

Stocks on Wall Street mostly gained, though the Dow industrials closed slightly lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 10.24 points, or 0.04%, to 26,526.58. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 11.14 points, or 0.38%, to 2,924.92 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 57.79 points, or 0.73%, to 7,967.76.

Healthcare .SPXHC rose 0.62% and financials .SPSY gained 0.92%, with big lenders leading the charge ahead of results of the second part of the Federal Reserve's annual stress test for banks. Semiconductor companies, which have a sizable revenue exposure to China, traded higher, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX rising 1.47%.

U.S. Treasury debt yields fell on concerns that trade discussions between the United States and China on Saturday may be more complicated than previously expected.

News headlines suggest that “the meeting in Osaka is going to be a lot more tense than some of the initial optimism suggested,” said Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rates strategy at BMO Capital Markets in New York.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note US10YT=RR rose 10/32 in price to push its yield lower to 2.0140%.

German government bond yields fell back toward record lows after data showed annual inflation in the euro zone’s biggest economy remained well below the European Central Bank’s target.

Germany's 10-year bond yield was down 1.2 basis points at minus 0.32% DE10YT=RR, nearing Tuesday's record low of minus 0.336%.

Oil prices settled little changed, weighed by concerns over whether the G20 summit will produce a breakthrough on trade and perceptions that supply is ample despite prospects for continued curbs by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Brent crude LCOc1, the global benchmark, rose 6 cents to settle at $66.55 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 settled up 5 cents to $59.43.

U.S. gold futures GCcv1 settled 0.2% lower at $1,412 an ounce.