GLOBAL MARKETS-Global stocks, oil retreat on fading optimism

                                
 * Global stocks retreat on banking slide, fading optimism
                                
 * Dollar rises above 101 yen, highest since October 2008
                                
 * Gold slips towards 2.5 month low as risk appetite rises
                                
 * Oil falls 4 pct toward $50 barrel as stock rally fizzles
 (Recasts with U.S. markets, changes dateline, previous
LONDON)
                                
 By Herbert Lash
                                
 NEW YORK, April 6 (Reuters) - Global stocks reversed course
on Monday and fell as optimism about the global economy faded,
while the dollar rose against the euro as the slide in equities
prompted investors to seek shelter in the U.S. currency.
                                
 Renewed concerns about the troubled banking sector prompted
investors to book gains after a sharp four-week stock rally
around the globe, with banks and miners leading the retreat.
                                
 Oil prices fell towards $50 a barrel as stock markets
sputtered, while gold prices fell more than 3 percent as
bearish momentum gathered pace. For more, see [ID:nSIN491212]
and [ID:nL6443254]
                                
 Benchmark euro zone government bonds pared losses after the
stock rally in Asia and early in Europe vanished as risk
aversion seeped back into the market. [ID:nL6108263]
                                
 The price of U.S. Treasuries rose as weak stocks and bond
buying by the Federal Reserve overshadowed a looming load of
supply in auctions of government debt this week, part of the
mammoth $2 trillion worth of expected issuance in 2009.
[ID:nN06396148]
                                
 Bank shares stumbled after veteran banking analyst Mike
Mayo of Calyon Securities initiated coverage on several large
banks and said the sector's problems still have further to run
and government action may not help as much as expected.
[ID:nN06391861]
                                
 Also weighing on bank shares were comments by billionaire
investor George Soros, who told Reuters Financial Television
that the "banking system as a whole is basically insolvent." He
also said the U.S. economy is in for "a lasting slowdown."
[ID:nN06386461]
                                
 The Select Sector SPDR Financial ETF <XLF.P> fell 3.9
percent while the KBW Banks index <.BKX> slipped 5.3 percent.
                                
 "A few people came out and said the banks weren't in great
shape and that's all it's going to take," said Warren Simpson,
managing director at Stephens Capital Management in Little
Rock, Arkansas. "Whether or not these infusions from the
government will be enough, nobody knows."
                                
 "Uncertainty leads to fear and fear leads to selling."
                                
 Before 1 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell
147.51 points, or 1.84 percent, at 7,870.08. The Standard &
Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> shed 18.98 points, or 2.25 percent, at
823.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 40.26 points,
or 2.48 percent, at 1,581.61.
                                
 The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares
closed 0.7 percent lower at 766.09 points. The benchmark index
is up 18 percent since sliding to an all-time low on March 9.
                                
 "The bulls are getting a bit ahead of themselves. We're
poised for some profit taking," said Ad van Tiggelen, senior
strategist at ING Investment Management.
                                
 "We've seen a violent sector shift in a very short period,
with some cyclicals up between 50 percent and 100 percent in
about 3 weeks. But at current prices, these cyclicals are not
as cheap as they should be at this point of the cycle."
                                
 Bucking the slide in banking shares, the stock of global
lender HSBC <HSBA.L> rose 3.9 percent, helped by a robust
response to the bank's massive rights issue.
                                
 The dollar gained against a basket of major currencies,
with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> up 0.83 percent at 84.875.
                                
 The euro <EUR=> fell 0.81 percent at $1.3371. Against the
yen, the dollar <JPY=> rose 0.36 percent to 100.66.
                                
 The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> rose
1/32 to yield 2.90 percent. The 2-year U.S. Treasury note
<US2YT=RR> was break-even in price, yielding 0.95 percent.
                                
 U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> fell $2.25 to $50.26 a
barrel.
                                
 Spot gold prices <XAU=> fell $21.15 to $870.75 an ounce.
                                
 Overnight in Asia shares climbed to almost a six-month high
as hopes that the global economic downturn is nearing its
bottom spurred demand for riskier assets.
                                
 The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 1.8 percent, touching highs last seen on
Oct. 16, while Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> gained 1.2
percent to a three-month closing high.
 (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and
Burton Frierson in New York; Blaise Robinson in Paris; George
Matlock, Chris Baldwin, Jan Harvey and Veronica Brown in
London; writing by Herbert Lash, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)