Reuters: US Dollar Report: GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares hold below 8-mth high, eyes on US data

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GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares hold below 8-mth high, eyes on US data Mar 21st 2012, 13:49 Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:49am EDT * Stocks tick up ahead of U.S. housing data * Dollar, benchmark U.S. Treasury prices gain By Herbert Lash NEW YORK, March 21 (Reuters) - World stocks traded slightly below recent eight-month highs on Wednesday as investors awaited for further signs of a U.S. economic recovery that would boost risky assets and ease concerns about slowing growth in China. U.S. stocks on Wall Street opened slightly higher while the MSCI's all-country world equity index slid 0.1 percent, damping a rally of more than 10 percent so far this year after reaching its highest level since August on Monday. Investors await existing U.S. home sales data for February to confirm whether a pick-up in activity is whittling down supply. Economists in a Thomson Reuters survey forecast a rise to 4.62 million unit sales on an annualized basis, up from 4.57 million in January. "People are looking for a pullback and they are still not trusting the data and they still aren't believing their eyes," said Carol Pepper, CEO of Pepper International in New York. "It's like an early spring phenomenon when you have a couple of warm days and you are worried if spring is really here or will we have another freeze - should I put my plants in the ground or should I wait?" The Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.36 points, or 0.01 percent, at 13,171.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.15 points, or 0.01 percent, at 1,405.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 4.08 points, or 0.13 percent, at 3,078.23. In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares fell 0.3 percent, while emerging stocks slid 0.2 percent. Futures for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index were up 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.15 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.1 percent. The euro reached a near five-month high versus the yen and held steady against the dollar as the Greek bailout appeared to progress, prompting some investors to pare back bets against the single currency. The dollar was up slightly at 79.622 against a basket of major currencies, while the euro gained 0.1 percent to $1.3230. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was up 10/32 in price to yield 2.33 percent. The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond was up 14/32, with the yield at 3.43 percent. Brent oil rose 18 cents to $124.30 a barrel. U.S. light sweet crude oil rose 56 cents to $106.63 a barrel. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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