* Banks weigh on European stocks
* Bund futures hit a high, Greek CDS widen
* Wall Street set to open lower
* Euro down, Canadian loonie hits 2-year high
By Claire Milhench
LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - Jitters about the state of
Greece and other euro zone peripheral economies rattled bond
markets again on Wednesday, while pressure on banking stocks
dragged down equity markets.
Wall Street looked set to open lower.
Bund futures hit a high as investors sought German debt,
seeking shelter from the volatility in the Greek, Spanish and
Portuguese debt markets.
Global stocks were flat but European stocks dipped after
investor concern about banks outweighed support for food
retailers.
Banks are being hit by a combination of worries over the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) threat of new taxes to cover
the cost of any bailouts, the Goldman Sachs <GS.N> fraud
accusation and the rising cost of euro zone debt.
"The IMF campaign and the action taken by the SEC
(Securities and Exchange Commission) and the FSA (Financial
Services Authority) against Goldman is adding to a degree of
uncertainty, so that anyone who is buying banks is doing so on a
short-term basis," said Josh Raymond, market strategist at City
Index.
These concerns overshadowed good earnings from Apple
<AAPL.O> reported late on Tuesday, which had helped Asian tech
stocks to rally and encouraged sentiment that consumer demand
was recovering.
MSCI's all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS> was flat,
with its more volatile emerging market component <.MSCIEF> up
0.4 percent.
In Europe, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> was
down 0.4 percent. Earlier, in Japan, the Nikkei <> closed
up 1.74 percent.
EURO DOWN, LOONIE GAINS
The euro was down 0.5 percent at $1.3366 <EU=> and slipped
against Britain's pound, the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen.
"While the market appears to have priced in the Greek
developments, the situation remains fluid," Brown Brothers
Harriman said in a note.
The low-yielding yen came under pressure as the strong U.S.
earnings fed a rebound in demand for riskier currencies, while
the Canadian dollar, or loonie, climbed to its highest level in
nearly two years.
This followed an indication from the Bank of Canada that an
interest rate rise may come as early as June.
In fixed income markets the spread between Greek government
bonds and euro zone benchmark Bunds rose to its highest level in
12 years. The cost of insuring Greek government debt also rose.
"Liquidation in the periphery has been the trigger in the
last hour. But liquidity is awful and bids are very low. So it
doesn't take much to get things going," said a bond trader.
(Additional reporting by Neal Armstrong, Simon Falush and
William James; editing by Stephen Nisbet)
