* Sovereign debt concerns boost safe-haven assets
* Euro slips versus U.S. dollar as Greece woes persist
* Oil eases below $80 on firm dollar, China demand fears
* Bonds mostly flat ahead of Fed policy meeting on Tuesday
By Herbert Lash and Jeremy Gaunt
NEW YORK/LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - World equities traded
lower on Monday as investors took a cautionary stance ahead of
U.S. and Japanese central bank policy-setting meetings this
week, while oil and other commodities fell on a stronger
dollar.
The euro slipped, hampered by a lack of progress on a
financial aid package for debt-strapped Greece as gold rose on
concerns over sovereign debt, which prompted buying of the
metal as a haven from risk. For details see: []
[]
Assets seen as higher risk, such as equities, crude oil and
industrial commodities, all retreated as risk appetite receded.
But U.S. Treasuries also slipped after brief gains on a
safe-haven bid in overseas trading. []
A possible monetary tightening in China also weighed on
equity and commodity markets as the slackening of demand from a
prime global growth engine could curb the global recovery.
MSCI's all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS> was off 0.4
percent, and Wall Street also was down.
Investors moved to the sidelines ahead of the Federal
Reserve's meeting on Tuesday, which is widely expected to stick
to its near zero interest rate policy, and a Bank of Japan
meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. [] Investors are
keen to learn how attempts to ignite growth have fared.
"The focus will be on the Fed. They want to keep
conventional policy easy," said Mark Pawlak, market strategist
at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was down 1.89
points, or 0.02 percent, at 10,622.12. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was down 2.03 points, or 0.18 percent, at
1,147.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was down 6.83
points, or 0.29 percent, at 2,360.88.
Two reports showing U.S. industrial production braked
sharply in February as severe winter storms slammed parts of
the United States while manufacturing activity in New York
state stalled this month sparked little market reaction.
[]
"This number is too small to suggest that the industrial
sector is really picking up steam, so it won't be a market
mover," said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at
Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto.
China, in the meantime, is causing some investors concern
because of both its rising inflation and its insistence that
the yuan currency is not undervalued, a bone of contention with
the United States.
On-again, off-again reports of European Union help for
debt-burdened Greece also put some investors on edge.
Finance ministers from the 16 countries using the euro, the
Eurogroup, were meeting in Brussels on Monday to discuss the
Greek debt crisis and the country's progress in introducing
austerity measures necessary to regain the confidence of
markets [].
"I don't see anything solid coming out of Brussels and the
overall picture is little changed," said Maurice Pomery,
managing director at consultants Strategic Alpha.
The euro <EUR=> was trading down 0.4 percent on the day at
$1.37, retreating from a three-week high of $1.3796 on Friday.
The dollar <.DXY> traded up almost 0.4 percent against a
basket of currencies.
Against the yen, the dollar <JPY=> was up 0.24 percent at
90.68.
Oil <CLc1> fell $1.39 to $79.85, while spot gold <XAU=>
rose $3.45 to $1,105.50 an ounce.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was
down 6/32 in price to yield 3.73 percent.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Richard Leong in
New York; Chris Baldwin, Jan Harvey and Rebekah Curtis; Writing
by Herbert Lash; Editing by Dan Grebler)
