* US jobs report shows surprise drop in non-farm payrolls
* Dollar under fire as policymakers meet in Washington
* Yen at fresh 15-year high, euro flat versus greenback
By Daniel Bases
NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The eroding U.S. labor market led to a 15-year low for the U.S. dollar versus the yen but left global share prices listless as investors felt hemmed in by currency talks in Washington and probable economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve.
U.S. government bond prices rose modestly as U.S. non-farm payrolls showed a surprise drop of 95,000 last month, according to government data. But the expectation the Fed will pump more cash into the economy via quantitative easing raised inflation concerns. For details, see [
]."The overall change (in payrolls) is really bad and is probably enough to convince the Fed to engage in quantitative easing," said Mark McCormick, currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.
The weaker greenback spurred spot gold higher but not enough to match Thursday's record $1,364.60 per ounce, while oil prices gained ground as well. Global stock gauges were little changed.
A brewing currency war has investors caught in a cross-fire while the world's finance ministers and central bankers meet in Washington to try work out a solution among themselves to soothe trade tensions and avoid scuttling a nascent global economic recovery with trade protectionism. [
]The officials are meeting for this weekend's International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting. [
]In late morning, the Dow Jones industrial average <
> was up 50.93 points, or 0.47 percent, at 10,999.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 5.16 points, or 0.45 percent, at 1,163.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index < > was up 10.12 points, or 0.42 percent, at 2,393.79..Shares of aluminum producer Alcoa Inc <AA.N> rose 5.9 percent to $12.92 after reporting late Thursday a lower quarterly profit, but said global markets were strengthening.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 <
> index of top European shares was little changed at 1,070.56.The banking sector was a drag on the index. Barclays <BARC.L> fell 2.19 percent after the main Middle East investor who pumped billions of pounds into it effectively sold a chunk more shares to lift his profit on the deal to over $3 billion. [
]MSCI's All-Country World index <.MIWD00000PUS> was 0.5 percent higher while the Thomson Reuters global stock index <.TRXFLDGLPU> climbed 0.95 percent.
Japan's Nikkei stock index <
> fell 0.99 percent.CURRENCY COUNTDOWN
The start of the Washington meetings has been dominated by the policymakers talking about taking measures to avoid a knock-down trade protectionist brawl.
At the heart of the matter is long hoped for global economic rebalancing and the ugly underside of 'beggar-thy-neighbor' tactics governments can employ to protect their export economies by keeping their currencies weak.
Japan, whose export-led but stagnant economy, has said it will continue to intervene to curb a strong yen if necessary. China has rebuffed calls from the West to let its currency rise faster but allowed it to firm on Friday to its highest against the dollar since a revaluation in July 2005.
The U.S. dollar fell 0.61 percent to 81.83 yen <JPY=>, hovering just above the 15-year low of 81.71.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers, said the euro exchange rate against the dollar was too strong at $1.4000 as the dollar did not reflect U.S. economic fundamentals. That prompted the euro to erase gains against the dollar to trade nearly unchanged at $1.3932 <EUR=>. [
] [ ]"Juncker has turned the market with comments about how he's not happy with the euro reaching $1.40,' said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon in New York.
"This adds to concern about competitive devaluations, particularly since foreign exchange will be discussed at official IMF meetings this weekend."
Concerns that a stronger euro <EUR=> may weigh on the pace of Europe's economic recovery, meanwhile, were fueled by German exports falling in August for the second consecutive month and narrowing the trade balance. [
]Bund futures pared losses after Friday's U.S. payrolls report, rising to 131.82 from 131.64 on Thursday.
The jobs data helped lift benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries 12/32 of a point in price, pushing the yield down to 2.34 percent <US10YT=RR>. The U.S. bond market will be closed on Monday for Columbus Day.
Spot gold prices <XAU=> rose $15.05 to $1,347.70, while crude oil <CLc1> gained $1.12 to $82.79 per barrel. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Gaunt, Brian Gorman, Chuck Mikolajczak, Nick Olivari, Vivianne Rodrigues, Steven C Johnson; Editing by Kenneth Barry)