* MSCI world share index hits six month high
* Europe climbs, led by FTSE
* Oil hits highest since Nov, Brent nears $70 a barrel (Updates with open of U.S. markets, changes byline, dateline; previous LONDON)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, April 2 (Reuters) - World stock markets were little changed on Tuesday after grazing a six-month high as investors took a breather following a three-day run of gains.
Oil prices, meanwhile, continued to ascend amid the prospect of tightening supply due to further possible sanctions against Iran and other disruptions.
MSCI's key gauge of global equities .MIWD00000PUS had rallied 1.1 percent on Monday, its best performance in three weeks, as manufacturing data in China and the United States put recession worries at bay. On Tuesday, the index slipped modestly and was down 0.13%.
Major U.S. indexes were little changed, although the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was dragged down by a slump of 12.18% in Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA.O after the drugstore chain cut its 2019 profit growth forecast. had a pretty good rally yesterday and I think part of it was overdone," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
"We're still in this mixed economic data range where you're really not going to see it driving (markets) one way or the other."
New orders for key U.S.-made capital goods slipped in February and shipments were unchanged, but data for January was revised slightly higher, which could support views that the manufacturing sector was stabilizing in the wake of the data on Monday. Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 110.27 points, or 0.42%, to 26,148.15, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 5.66 points, or 0.20%, to 2,861.53 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 4.81 points, or 0.06%, to 7,824.10.
After a sluggish start, European shares were able to build some momentum heading into the close of trading, with the STOXX 600 hitting its highest intraday level since late September.
Europe was led by a jump of more than 1 percent in London's FTSE 100 .FTSE index as sterling weakened GBP= . That came as the European Union said Britain could be heading for a potentially disorderly exit in 10 days as Prime Minister Theresa May met with ministers to work out ways to break the Brexit deadlock. pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.29%.
The dollar index .DXY rose 0.23%, with the euro EUR= down 0.19% to $1.1191. Sterling GBP= was last trading at $1.3037, down 0.47% on the day. Brexit concerns also pushed yields on U.S. Treasuries lower from one-week highs as investors looking for bargains and a safe-haven bid stepped in. 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 7/32 in price to yield 2.4741%, from 2.497% late on Monday.
Oil prices continued to rally, with crude prices hitting their highest levels of the year and Brent moving closer to $70 a barrel for the first time since late October. The gains came on the prospect that more sanctions against Iran and further Venezuelan disruptions could deepen an OPEC-led supply cut. crude CLcv1 rose 0.68% to $62.01 per barrel and Brent LCOcv1 was last at $69.11, up 0.14% on the day.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ No deal Brexit probabilities
https://tmsnrt.rs/2CPfG3j Global assets in 2019
http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl Global currencies vs. dollar
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap
http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>