* Stocks earlier fell as lenders failed to agree on Greece
* Euro and U.S. dollar flat; Japanese yen rebounds
* Brent oil flat as Greece offsets on Gaza-Israel clashes
NEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) - World shares advanced on
Wednesday as policymakers in Europe reassured markets that a
deal on releasing emergency aid to Greece was close, though the
failure of lenders to come to an agreement on their own kept
investors cautious.
Euro zone finance ministers, the International Monetary Fund
and the European Central Bank will gather again Monday, after
nearly 12 hours of talks overnight in Brussels failed to produce
a consensus on how to shrivel Greece's debts.
After the meeting ended, French Finance Minister Pierre
Moscovici said a deal was just "a whisker away," while European
paymaster Germany said a plan was being developed to provide
Greece with funding until 2016.
Shares in Europe rebounded from early losses. The
FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares closed 0.3 percent
higher, while the Euro STOXX 50 recouped from an
earlier drop to add 0.5 percent.
"European exchanges themselves are doing okay, so investors
are saying 'we didn't really expect a resolution (on Greece),'
just kind of learning to live with it," said Peter Jankovskis,
co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in
Lisle, Illinois.
U.S. stocks gained in trading thinned by a national holiday
Thursday for Thanksgiving. The Dow Jones industrial average
was up 53.21 points, or 0.42 percent, at 12,841.72. The
Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 3.27 points, or 0.24
percent, at 1,391.08. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up
9.56 points, or 0.33 percent, at 2,926.24.
Investors in the U.S. digested the latest data, including
weekly jobless claims that met expectations and a final read on
November consumer sentiment that was below forecasts.
Market participants remained anxious about tax and spending
changes - known as the fiscal cliff - poised to come into effect
in the new year, though policymakers are not expected to get
back to negotiations until after Thanksgiving.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was
down 6/32, with the yield at 1.6882 percent.
The euro rose 0.1 percent to $1.28, also rebounding
from earlier weakness of as much as 0.5 percent.
Prices for German debt, the safest in the euro zone, had
eased slightly, sending 10-year yields down modestly to 1.431
percent.
However, a sale of 3.25 billion euros ($4.2 billion) of new
German 10-year debt, which paid an interest rate of 1.5 percent,
drew solid demand from investors worried about the outlook.
FED WARNING
Before the Greek impasse, world equity markets had come under
pressure Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
warned that the central bank lacked the tools to cushion the
impact of a potential U.S. fiscal crisis.
Bernanke said worries over fiscal negotiations, aimed at
preventing a series of mandatory tax increases and spending cuts
early next year, had already damaged growth in the world's
largest economy.
His comments snapped a two-day rally on Wall Street Tuesday,
but the MSCI world equity index later rose 0.3
percent.
Asian shares had initially fallen Wednesday in reaction to
the Greek aid payment delay, but closed modestly higher, buoyed
by gains in mainland Chinese markets and in Tokyo.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
gained 0.2 percent, while Japan's Nikkei stock
average closed up 0.9 percent at a two month-high.
YEN WEAKNESS
The Nikkei's gains came as shares of exporters rose, after
the yen hit a seven-month low against the dollar, on
expectations a new government will aggressively push the Bank of
Japan to expand monetary stimulus.
Japan's opposition Liberal Democratic Party, tipped to win
next month's general election, also promised to boost spending
as it emerged that exports had fallen in annual terms for a
fifth straight month in October.
The yen rose 0.9 percent to the dollar, rebounding
from its weakest level since early April. The U.S. dollar
was off 0.1 against a basket of currencies, while Brent crude
erased earlier losses to trade flat at $109.91 per
barrel.
Oil was flat, after earlier having been supported by
mounting tensions in the Middle East amid days of fighting
between Israel and Hamas, which many feared could disrupt oil
flows. Concerns about Greece and the impact that could have on
international growth, however, weighed on crude prices.
"There are opposing forces where the uncertainty in Europe
and the United States meets with the bullish uncertainty in the
Middle East ... so I think we're going to see a volatile
market," said Jeremy Friesen, commodity strategist at Societe
Generale in Hong Kong.