* Profit taking, bank worries weaken global stocks
* Europe up slightly, Wall Street set for small gains
* Dollar flat, gold gains
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - World stocks cut some of their
losses on Tuesday as Wall Street looked set to open higher,
while the dollar gave up early gains and pushed gold to near a
record high.
Investors were generally taking profits from Monday's stock
rally, which saw U.S. blue chips gain 1.3 percent and European
shares 2 percent.
Germany's Ifo business sentiment survey came in more
positive than expected, but there was some concern about the
banking sector.
A German newspaper reported that the majority owners of
WestLB [] were threatening not to support the stricken
German landesbank's requirement for more capital.
[]
Rating agency Standard & Poor's also said on Monday it
found most banks in a global study were weakly capitalised, with
Citigroup <C.N>, UBS <UBSN.VX> and Mizuho Financial Group
<8411.T> more than two-thirds below the average. []
MSCI's all-country word stock index <.MIWD00000PUS> was down
0.2 percent, well off its daily lows, after gaining 1.7 percent
on Monday.
But the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European
shares reversed losses to stand 0.1 percent higher.
"I don't see any negatives out there. The economic data is
good," said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB
Stockbrokers in Dublin.
Some concerns about the U.S. economy were temporarily eased
on Monday when data showed sales of previously owned U.S. homes
had risen to their highest level in more than 2-1/2 years.
Many global stock investors are nonetheless being cautious
heading into the year-end, wanting to lock in profits after a
very good run in 2009 while also worrying about the true state
of the world economy.
Earlier on Tuesday, Japan's Nikkei <.225> hit its lowest
close in four months, down 1 percent on the day.
Japan's current concerns are focused on worries financial
firms will tap the market for equity financing and on a stronger
yen hurting the shares of exporters.
DOLLAR FIRMS
The dollar was flat against a basket of competitors <.DXY>
after earlier putting in some gains. It remains down 7 percent
for the year, reflecting low U.S. yields on offer.
The euro reversed course to stand slightly stronger on the
day at $1.4978 <EUR=> and the dollar slipped 0.4 percent to
88.60 yen <JPY=>.
Gold reversed as the dollar rose and was selling at around
$1,1170 an ounce, about $3 off an all-time peak hit on Monday.
Euro zone government bonds rose, with Bund futures at one
point reaching their highest level since early October.
(Additional reporting by Brian Gorman)
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((jeremy.gaunt@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 1028; Reuters
Messaging: jeremy.gaunt.reuters.com@reuters.net; editing by
Chris Pizzey))
