GLOBAL MARKETS-Jobs data to give steer on U.S. recovery

                                
 * Investors wait for U.S. jobs data
                                
 * World stocks tick lower
                                
 * Dollar steady
                                
 
                                
 By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
                                
 LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - World stocks slipped slightly and
the dollar was steady on Friday as investors waited for U.S.
jobs data, the latest signal about how far the U.S. economy is
recovering.
                                
 Markets were also digesting the impact of the European
Central Bank's decision to start withdrawing stimulus measures
put in place to combat the financial crisis.
                                
 The U.S. economy, the world's biggest, has come out of
recession but unemployment is lagging and has yet to turn.
                                
 A Reuters poll suggests that about 130,000 jobs were lost in
November compared with 190,000 in October.<ECON>[ECI/US]
                                
 "A more negative payrolls figure than the one the market is
expecting could undermine the tenuous `risk-on' stance of
markets, threatening (the euro), equities, and gold strength,"
ING said on a note.
                                
 European shares fell in early trade, tracking a late slide
overnight in the United States, with banks among the biggest
losers.
                                
 The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares
was down 0.3 percent.
                                
 World stocks as measured by MSCI <.MIWD00000PUS> were down
0.2 percent.
                                
 Earlier, Japan's Nikkei stock average <.N225> edged up 0.4
percent on the day.
                                
 But it closed above 10,000 for the first time in five weeks
and rose 10.4 percent on the week, its biggest weekly gain in
over a year.
                                
 
                                
 DOLLAR MARKS TIME
                                
 The dollar was steady in cautious trade ahead of the jobs
data.
                                
 Analysts said a better-than-forecast report would weigh on
the dollar as risk appetite picked up, encouraging investors to
turn instead towards perceived higher-risk currencies.
                                
 "Risk appetite seems to have recovered slightly after the
negative report on U.S. services yesterday which definitely
weighed," said Sverre Holbek, strategist at Danske Bank in
Copenhagen.
                                
 Against a basket of currencies, the dollar edged up 0.1
percent to 74.703 <.DXY> by 0851 GMT, while the euro was steady
at $1.5063 <EUR=>.
                                
 On Thursday the euro neared a 16-month high against the
dollar around $1.5140 after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet
said the next 12-month refinancing operation for banks would be
the last.
                                
 Euro zone government bond prices held steady.
  (Additional reporting by Jessica Mortimer; Editing by Ruth
Pitchford)
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((jeremy.gaunt@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 1028; Reuters
Messaging: jeremy.gaunt.reuters.com@reuters.net))