Global stocks steady; sterling down after Fitch

An employee of a foreign currency brokerage firm puts his hands on his head in Tokyo November 9, 2009.

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks held near a two-week high on Tuesday, underpinned by positive reports from UK banks and hopes that policymakers would keep easy monetary policy, while a downbeat German sentiment survey weighed on the euro.

Sterling fell broadly after a warning on Britain's triple-A credit rating while the dollar held near a 15-month low as investors bought higher-yielding currencies.

HSBC shares rose 2 percent (HSBA.L) after the bank said its underlying third quarter profits were significantly ahead of a year ago and loan impairment charges fell.

Barclays (BARC.L) said strong investment banking helped limit a fall in profit in the third quarter, adding it expected bad debts to peak earlier than it had previously expected. It also said it would restart dividends next month.

They have joined a batch of rivals including Goldman Sachs reporting strong third-quarter results as capital markets and trading activity remained lively. Promises by G20 nations to keep economic stimulus in place until recovery was assured also helped risky assets.

Gains in European shares were limited however as investors consolidated their holdings after a four-session rally, while U.S. stock futures fell a day after Wall Street rose to a 13-month high.

"Monetary and fiscal stimulus has clearly taken hold, and has resulted in an initial growth spurt that has been sharp and fast," noted Bob Doll, chief investment officer for global equities at BlackRock.

"At some point, we believe markets will require clearer evidence that corporate revenue growth is sustainable, and unless or until that occurs, we should see some continued back-and-forth action in the markets." MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS was steady, while the FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 slipped 0.1 percent. In Asia .MIAPJ0000PUS emerging stocks rose 0.5 percent.

Emerging stocks .MSCIEF rose 0.3 percent.

"There's feeling that confidence is returning as we head into the Christmas period," said Brian Myers, analyst at ODL Securities.

U.S. stock futures were down around 0.3 percent.

U.S. crude oil fell 0.2 percent to $70.30 a barrel after tropical storm Ida, which cut U.S. oil and gas supplies, was downgraded from a powerful hurricane and U.S. crude oil stockpiles were forecast to rise slightly.

Oil prices have risen 77 percent so far this year but they are still nearly 47 percent below their high of more than $147 a barrel struck in July last year.

The December bund futures rose 33 ticks and the euro fell to $1.4984 after a ZEW survey showed German sentiment fell for the first time in three months to hit its lowest level since July.

Sterling fell as low as $1.6600, before recovering to $1.6671, after Fitch said that of the four major economies with AAA status, Britain was the most at risk.

"The Fitch report shows that the fiscal expansion comes at increasingly high costs, which will ultimately widen gilt spreads and undermine sterling," BNP Paribas said in a note to clients.

The dollar .DXY was up 0.2 percent against a basket of major currencies although it was close to the previous day's 15-month low.

(Editing by Andy Bruce)