* Euro hit briefly by Greek worries
* World stocks slightly lower
* Wall Street heading for losses
* U.S jobs data on Friday in focus
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - The euro took a brief battering on
Wednesday on worries the European Union would not rescue
fiscally struggling Greece if need be, while global stocks
ticked over with investors eyeing major U.S. data due later in
the week.
Wall Street looked set to open weaker.
European Central Bank officials were to visit Athens over
the next few days to discuss Greece's financial difficulties,
but foreign exchange markets were stirred up by a media report
quoting ECB executive board member Juergen Stark as saying
Greece would not be bailed out.
He was reported as saying markets were "deluding themselves"
if they thought member states would "put their hands in their
wallets to save Greece".
The euro fell sharply on the report, touching a low of
$1.4285 against the dollar compared with its session high of
$1.4371 <EUR=>.
Stark's reported comments flew in the face of what EU
leaders have suggested, however, and the currency recovered most
of its poise to stand later at $1.4347.
The incident nonetheless underlined the fragility of market
sentiment and worries about Europe's so-called peripherals --
those countries whose financial condition has been hit hardest
by the global economic crisis.
The dollar, which has been weakening in the few days of
trading so far this year, was up 0.2 percent against a basket of
currencies <.DXY>.
It also rose against the yen after Japan's finance minister
Hirohisa Fujii's resignation was accepted. Japanese Prime
Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan
will become finance minister, with Fujii -- one of the few
experienced members of the novice Democratic Party-led
government -- resigning due to ill health. []
JOB WORRIES
Most investors, meanwhile, are seeking confirmation that the
world economy, and particularly the United States, is recovering
in a sustainable manner.
As a result, much of the focus this week is on the monthly
U.S. jobs data due on Friday.
"The U.S. jobs data on Friday will be important, but the
feedback you are getting shows that the trend is clearly
improving," said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB
Stockbrokers in Dublin.
"Expectations for the robustness of growth have improved
significantly over the last few weeks," he said.
World stocks as measured by MSCI <.MIWD00000PUS> were a tad
lower, having risen more than 2 percent in the two previous
trading sessions and are sitting at around 15 month highs.
Emerging markets remained buoyant, however, as they have for
much of the past 10 months, with the relevant MSCI benchmark
<.MSCIEF> up 0.4 percent.
European shares could not keep up gains and the FTSEurofirst
300 <> inched down 0.1 percent. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei
closed up around 0.5 percent at a 15-month closing high.
Euro zone government bonds were steady, with yields rising
slightly.
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; editing by Patrick
Graham)
(To read Reuters Global Investing Blog click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting; for the MacroScope
Blog click on http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope; for Hedge
Hub click on http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub)
