LONDON—World stocks crept higher on Wednesday for the second day in a row, while safe-haven assets such as government bonds and gold lost ground, despite Western skepticism over Russian claims of a troop pullback from Ukraine’s borders. Markets are looking for any sign that one of the deepest crises in East-West relations for decades is starting to ebb and have seized on Moscow’s announcement of a partial pullback, even while U.S. President Joe Biden warned there was no proof. MSCI’s global equity index rose 0.4 percent, following Tuesday’s 1.3 percent bounce, which snapped a three-day losing streak. Playing catch-up with a late Tuesday rally in U.S. and European stocks, Japan’s Nikkei increased 2.2 percent. The STOXX 600 pan-European equity index rose 0.3 percent and Wall Street was indicated to open modestly positive. “The surprise element is gone, the market has already priced in a certain deterioration in the situation,” said …