* Global stocks slightly higher
* Dollar rises against yen, euro recovers
* U.S jobs data on Friday in focus
(Adds U.S. data and trading, byline and NEW YORK dateline)
By Al Yoon and Jeremy Gaunt
NEW YORK/LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Global stocks edged
higher on Wednesday after U.S. services sector data supported
a slow but steady recovery, and lifted the dollar against the
Japanese yen.
Trading across most asset classes remained thin, however,
as traders refrained from sharp moves before a Friday report
on the U.S. labor market that is a keystone to the recovery
story that since March has driven world stocks up to 15-month
highs.
The Institute for Supply Management said its services
index rose to 50.1 from 48.7 in November. The reading by the
private U.S. industry group was below economists' expectations
of 50.5, but indicated expansion. For details, see
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"The trend is our friend," said Torsten Slok, a senior
economist at Deutsche Bank in New York. "The sign that the
service sector is improving is a sign that the things are
moving in the right direction."
Global shares held gains even after the ADP Employer
Services report showed a smaller-than-expected slowdown in job
losses in December. The ADP data is a precursor to the closely
watched government non-farm payrolls report, where economists
expect a loss of 8,000 jobs for the month.
[][].
World stocks as measured by MSCI <.MIWD00000PUS> inched up
0.06 percent to 1,193.64, their highest level since the
darkest days of the financial crisis in September 2008.
Earlier in the session, this index hit a fresh 52-week high at
1,195.26, Reuters data showed.
Earlier in the session, two of the three major U.S. stock
indexes hit fresh 52-week highs. The S&P 500 climbed as high
as 1,138.17, while the Nasdaq rose as high as 2,314.07.
But by midday, Wall Street was trading flat to slightly
lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average <> fell 4.76
points, or 0.05 percent, to 10,567.26. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> inched down just 0.23 of a point, or 0.02
percent, to 1,136.29 and the Nasdaq Composite Index <>dropped 6.44 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,302.27.
European shares rebounded from losses. The FTSEurofirst
300 <> rose 0.11 percent to 1,061.57. Earlier, Japan's
Nikkei gained 0.46 percent to end at 10,731.45, a 15-month
closing high.
The dollar rose against the yen on Wednesday, buoyed by
the resignation of Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii.
But the greenback's gains were limited by softer-than-expected
data on U.S. private-sector jobs.
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.
At midday in New York, the dollar <JPY=> rose 0.84 percent
to 92.49 yen.
The euro took a brief battering on Wednesday on worries
the European Union would not rescue fiscally struggling
Greece.
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.
Stark's reported comments flew in the face of what EU
leaders have suggested, however, and the euro recovered most
of its poise.
The euro <EUR=> rose 0.17 percent to $1.4393.
The dollar slipped against a basket of trading-partner
currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> off 0.10 percent
at 77.545.
Overshadowing markets was the investor apathy ahead of
more 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.
U.S. Treasuries prices fell on Wednesday, ending a two-day
recovery as investors grew nervous before the jobs report,
which according to some economists may show the first month of
jobs growth since December 2007.
The yield of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note
<US10YT=RR> climbed 0.07 percentage point to 3.83 percent. Its
price, which moves in the opposite direction of its yield, was
down 17/32, or about half a point, to 96-9/32.
A return to job growth could challenge bond investors'
assumption that weak consumer activity will keep inflation in
check and allow the Federal Reserve to make good on its
promise to hold benchmark interest rates low for some time to
come.
In energy and commodities markets, U.S. light sweet crude
oil <CLc1> rose 91 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $82.68 per
barrel, and spot gold <XAU=> rose $16.15, or 1.44 percent, to
$1,134.80 an ounce, near a three-week high.
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash and Burton Frierson;
Editing by Jan Paschal)
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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)
