(Updates with U.S. gains, quotes)
* Firm U.S. equities pulls hesitant global index higher
* Gains come on anniversary of U.S. market lows
* Oil weakens; yen rises broadly
By Al Yoon
NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - World stocks hovered at
six-week highs on Tuesday as hopes of economic recovery helped
U.S. equities extend a year-long bull market, while a rising
yen signaled some investors are growing more risk averse on
nagging worries about European debt levels.
Sterling hit a one-week low against the dollar, weighed by
data showing a widening UK trade deficit and comments by Fitch
Ratings that the UK sovereign credit profile has deteriorated.
Oil prices slipped back from eight-week highs on Tuesday on
expectations of a rise in U.S. crude inventories and a slightly
stronger dollar.
Robust corporate performance and upbeat fourth-quarter
corporate results on Monday helped investors push the benchmark
MSCI world stocks above their break-even level since December.
But expectations that the economic rebound could be lackluster
for years have kept investors from diving deeper into equities,
and sparked some profit-taking.
"Earnings are coming through quite nicely and I think there
is still a fair degree of confidence, which is helpful for
companies," said Mike Lenhoff, a strategist at Brewin Dolphin
in London. A slight pullback in Europe appeared to be investors
booking profits, he added.
The MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> gained 0.13
percent, erasing losses as U.S. shares firmed at the New York
open.
At midday in the United States, the Dow Jones industrial
average <> rose 39.45 points, or 0.37 percent, to
10,591.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> climbed 4.70
points, or 0.41 percent, to 1,143.20 and the Nasdaq Composite
Index <> increased 15.30 points, or 0.66 percent, to
2,347.51.
One year ago, Wall Street hit a more than 12-year low in
the wake of the financial crisis. The Dow has since rallied
about 62 percent.
"This past year was one of the most powerful rallies in
history, and with the recent gains we've had, it makes sense
that we're going to move sideways for a while," said Phil
Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors
in New York.
Airline and transport stocks rose after UAL Corp's <UAUA.O>
chief financial officer said the company's United Airlines was
clearly seeing signs of recovery. UAL gained 8.35 percent to
$19, while the ARCA Airline index <.XAL> added 3.63 percent.
Shares of Apple Inc <AAPL.O> jumped more than 2 percent to
a record high at $224.41 ahead of the company's iPad launch.
In Europe, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <>
closed down 0.09 percent at 1,052.55 points, as banking stocks
fell and miners declined on the firmer dollar.
The parent of the Airbus planemaker, EADS <EAD.PA> ,lost
2.8 percent after it posted heavy losses in 2009 and scrapped
its dividend. It also ruled out a solo bid for a lucrative U.S.
tanker contract, leaving Boeing Co. <BA.N> closer to snaring
the contract worth up to $50 billion. Boeing shares in New York
rose 1.1 percent.
U.S. crude oil <CLc1> fell 0.22 percent to $81.69 a barrel,
after hitting an eight-week peak above $82 a day earlier.
Forecasts for growing U.S. crude inventories tempered recent
bullish sentiment.
"Forecasts of yet another build in U.S. crude stocks show
the disconnect between the fundamentals of oil supply and
demand, which are quite bearish, and hopes of economic
recovery, which are bullish," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten
Fritsch.
In other commodities, spot gold prices <XAU=> rose 25
cents, or 0.02 percent, to $1122.20 and the Reuters/Jefferies
CRB Index <.CRB> fell 0.51 percent.
The dollar <.DXY> gained 0.28 percent against a basket of
major currencies. The dollar fell 0.38 percent to 89.92 yen
<JPY=> while the euro lost 0.39 percent to $1.3575 <EUR=>.
The yen was boosted by repatriation flows by Japanese
exporters ahead of the fiscal year-end, as well as risk
aversion on concerns peripheral euro zone economies could face
debt problems similar to those of Greece.
Sterling fell as low as $1.4935 <GBP=> ,and recently traded
at $1.4982, down from $1.5066 a day earlier. Fitch also said
urgency for fiscal adjustment was greatest for the UK, Spain
and France among the larger AAA sovereigns.
U.S. Treasury debt prices rose ahead of a $40 billion
three-year note auction as the securities are used as hedges
for a heavy slate of corporate bond issuance.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes <US10YT=RR> traded 3/32
point higher, pushing their yields down 0.01 percentage point
to 3.70 percent.
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash, Harpreet Bhal and
Joanne Frearson in London, and Emily Flitter in New York;
Editing by Leslie Adler)
