By Lincoln Feast

LONDON, Nov 7 (Reuters) Global stocks powered to a record peak on Tuesday, boosted by still swelling company profits, ample funds for takeover deals and confidence that economic growth will remain robust as the U.S. heads for a soft landing.

The dollar lost ground ahead of the U.S. congressional elections, while the yen extended gains after comments on interest rates from the Bank of Japan.

Equities starred, however, with the MSCI World Index hitting an all-time peak of 353.53 points, taking gains for the year to almost 14 percent.

Equity markets in Spain, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Indonesia and Australia hit record highs on Tuesday, helped by Friday's stronger than expected U.S. jobs growth data which allayed fears of a sharp U.S. slowdown.

''We have been bullish and we continue to be so,'' said Ian Scott, a strategist at Lehman Brothers in London.

Stocks were attractively priced, earnings were strong and many measures of sentiment showed investors were not over exposed to equities as they were ahead of the sharp sell-off in May, he said.

''The market is priced for a problem so if it is swinging between concerns about somewhat slower growth and somewhat faster growth ... I don't think that's a problem.'' While the U.S. economy is expected to cool, other regions are experiencing solid growth and IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato said he was sticking to forecasts for global growth of a healthy 5 percent for this year and next.

Evidence of investor bullishness has cropped up in other areas of financial markets in recent weeks.

Market volatility, as measured by the VIX and VDAX indexes, is at or close to its lowest levels this year.

Spreads between corporate bond yields and their government equivalents have rallied to record tight levels as a combination of the sale of new structured products to offset risk and confidence in company earnings and balance sheets attracts buyers.

RECORD HIGHS The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 hit a fresh 5-1/2 year high of 1,469.6 points, propelled by solid earnings from companies including retailer Marks & Spencer and sporting goods firm Puma.

Energy stocks also lent support after crude oil rallied above $60 a barrel on Monday following comments from Saudi Arabia that OPEC might cut production further in December.

However, U.S. light crude oil eased 38 cents to $59.64 on Tuesday.

Asian stocks took their lead from a strong performance on Wall Street on Monday. A number of big merger deals propelled the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 to their largest one-day gains in more than a month on Monday.

The MSCI Index of Asian stocks outside of Japan was up 0.9 percent and Tokyo's Nikkei average gained 0.2 percent. After the close, auto giant Toyota reported a better-than-expected 44 percent rise in quarterly operating profit.

BONDS BOUNCE, YEN GAINS Government bonds have been struggling in recent sessions on the stronger outlook for the economy and concerns about inflation, but rebounded in low volumes on Tuesday.

The December Bund future was up 28 ticks at 117.64, while the yield on 10-year bunds fell to 3.755 percent as markets took the prospect of another rate increase in their stride.

The yen took heart from comments from Governor Toshihiko Fukui that the Bank of Japan would raise interest pre-emptively to avoid sharp economic swings.

The dollar fell on jitters before the U.S. mid-term elections, which could see the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives.

Analysts say Democrat control in the lower house could be negative for the dollar as it may lead to a rise in protectionist policies or to political deadlock which could slow reforms and economic growth, although most reckon any currency reaction would be limited.

The dollar was down about a quarter of a percent at $1.2757 per euro, inching towards last week's one-month low of $1.2798.

The dollar fell 0.3 percent to 117.93 yen from Monday's one-week high of 118.45 yen.

REUTERS SBA DS1618