GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks waver, oil slips on U.S. consumer data

                                

                                
 * Stocks waver on poor reading of U.S. consumer sentiment
                                
 * Dollar gains vs euro, flat against yen on risk aversion
                                
 * U.S., German bond prices rise after downbeat U.S. data
                                
 * Oil slips below $74 a barrel after consumer sentiment
 (Adds close of European markets)
                                
 By Herbert Lash
                                
 NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Global stocks wavered and oil
prices sank on Friday after a worsening U.S. consumer sentiment
reading pricked optimism over upbeat results and outlooks from
technology bellwethers Oracle and Research in Motion.
                                
 The dollar gained against the euro but was flat against the
yen as U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly weakened in early
September to its lowest level in more than a year. The
sentiment reading boosted risk aversion following currency
market intervention by the Bank of Japan on Wednesday to weaken
the yen. For details see: [ID:nN17262425]
                                
 The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary
September reading on consumer sentiment fell to 66.6 from 68.9
in August. [ID:nN17137976] The median forecast among economists
polled by Reuters was 70.0.
                                
 "I'm not surprised to see the market struggling a bit on
this," Matthew Strauss, senior currency strategist at RBC
Capital Markets in Toronto, said of the consumer sentiment
report. "It plays into the uncertainties about what a
sustainable recovery would look like."
                                
 Major stock indexes meandered around break-even.
                                
 MSCI's all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS> was up about
0.1 percent shortly after midday.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 2.65
points, or 0.03 percent, at 10,592.18. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was up 0.06 point, or 0.01 percent, at
1,124.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 8.96
points, or 0.39 percent, at 2,312.21.
                                
 Wall Street opened sharply higher, with the benchmark S&P
500 Index breaking through a June 21 intraday high after
bellwethers Oracle Corp <ORCL.O> and RIM <RIM.TO><RIMM.O>
reported better-than-expected results late Thursday.
[ID:nN16154992] [ID:nN16189389]
                                
 No. 3 software maker Oracle jumped 7.1 percent to $27.16,
while BlackBerry maker RIM rose .19 percent to $47.38.
                                
 The S&P managed briefly to overcome key technical
resistance around 1,130, a level that has represented the top
of a trading range for months. Analysts said a decisive move
above that threshold would be a bullish sign.
                                
 "It's the top end of the range, it's a good place to take
profits and I think that's what we saw happen in Friday trade,"
said Nick Kalivas, an analyst at MF Global in Chicago.
                                
 European shares fell as confidence was stung by the U.S.
consumer sentiment data and banking shares traded lower on
renewed worries over the euro zone's fiscal health.
                                
 Banks were among the decliners after the Irish Independent
newspaper said Ireland was "perilously close" to calling in the
International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
                                
 The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top
shares closed 0.3 percent lower at 1,072.87, ending at its
lowest closing level in more than a week.
                                
 Allied Irish Banks <ALBK.I> fell 11.1 percent, Societe
Generale <SOGN.PA> lost 2.5 percent and Barclays <BARC.L> shed
2.9 percent.
                                
 German government bond prices outperformed euro zone
peripheral debt and the Irish/German spread widened to a euro
lifetime peak on persistent worries about funding Ireland's
banking sector. [ID:nLDE68G1O0]
                                
 U.S. government securities prices advanced as the weak
consumer sentiment data and European sovereign debt concerns
enhanced the allure of safe-haven government debt.
[ID:nN17385197] [ID:nLDE68G1J5]
                                
 The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was up
5/32 in price to yield 2.75 percent.
                                
 U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> fell $1.01 to $73.56 a
barrel.
                                
 In currencies, the dollar was up against a basket of major
currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> up 0.16 percent
at 81.368.
                                
 The euro <EUR=> was down 0.20 percent at $1.3048, and
against the yen, the dollar <JPY=> was unchanged at 85.78.
                                
 Copper rose to a 4-1/2 month high as falling inventories
and reassuring comments from China's central bank on monetary
policy boosted industrial metals. [ID:nLDE68G0SH]
                                
 Spot gold prices <XAU=> rose $2.15 to $1,276.56 an ounce.
                                
 Overnight in Asia, the Nikkei share average <.N225> rose
1.2 percent, capping a 4.2 percent gain for the week that was
the biggest weekly advance since December 2009, after
intervention in the yen brightened the prospects of exporters.
                                
 MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.2
percent <.MIAPJ0000PUS>.
 (Reporting by Leah Schnurr, Nick Olivari and Ellen Freilich in
New York; Marie-Louise Gumuchian, George Matlock, Melanie
Burton and Michael Taylor in London; Writing by Herbert Lash;
Editing by Dan Grebler)