* World stocks rise but fail loss for week
* U.S. jobs data in focus
* European shares gain 0.9 pct, Japan down 0.3 pct
* Dollar slips
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - World equities climbed higher on
Friday, although investors were cautious about U.S. jobs data
due later in the day, while the dollar slipped against a basket
of major currencies.
MSCI's all-country world stock index <.MIWD00000PUS> was up
about 0.4 percent, but still looked set to end the week lower.
If it does, it will be the first loss eight weeks and only the
fifth since the March rally began.
Some investors have begun to pull back from equity markets,
expecting a correction after so many months of gains. Fund
tracker EPFR Global said, for example, that flows into equity
funds stalled in the latest week.
But other remain bullish. Both UBS and Goldman Sachs said
they were raising their year-end targets for European stocks.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
was up 0.9 percent. It is up 48 percent since a record low in
March, but is still down about 17 percent from a year ago, just
before the collapse of Lehman Brothers that accelerated the
global credit crisis.
"A poor week is in desperate need of a good finish. Having
enjoyed a stellar run over the past few weeks, it is now a test
of nerve for the market bulls," said John Murphy, analyst at ODL
Securities.
Earlier, Japan's Nikkei <> lost 0.27 percent.
The G20 was meeting in London, where finance ministers were
expected to discuss the continuing role of governments in
combatting global economic decline.
But the key event for most financial markets, however, was
the U.S. Labor Department's release of August payrolls data at
1230 GMT. Economists in a Reuters poll forecast 225,000 jobs
were shed by the world's biggest economy, down from the 247,000
job losses in July.
WAITING FOR JOBS
The dollar was generally lower, although it managed to hold
above a seven-week low hit earlier in the week against the yen.
The euro was up 0.2 percent at $1.4275 <EUR=> and the dollar
gained 0.1 percent against the yen to 92.72 yen <JPY=>.
"Payrolls could have a definitive impact," said David Watt,
senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Australia.
"Preliminary indicators, however, are on balance consistent
with the consensus. Hence, anything could be a surprise and the
dollar could be in for a jolt either way."
A weaker-than-expected report could feed risk aversion,
boost Treasuries and so aid the greenback.
On euro zone government debt markets, the interest
rate-sensitive two-year Schatz yield <EU2YT=RR> was 1.162
percent. Earlier, it marked a fresh six-month low of 1.139
percent.
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash and Charlotte Cooper;
Editing by Andy Bruce)
