* Wall Street dips but Dow holds above 22,000
* FTSE rallies, sterling falls after BoE holds rates
* U.S. Treasury yields fall to more than one-week lows (Updates with close of European markets)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - A gauge of world stock declined as Wall Street dipped on Thursday, although European shares rallied, while sterling hit a nine-month low against the euro after the Bank of England's policymakers kept interest rates unchanged.
Wall Street declined on a pullback in technology .SPLRCT shares, the best performing sector so far in 2017, the index was last off 0.37 percent. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted slight gains to hold above the 22,000 mark breached for the first time on Wednesday.
"The tech sector is going through a consolidation phase where people are taking some money away from big names and putting it towards underperformers," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW).
Britain's FTSE index .FTSE , up 0.85 percent, led the charge in overseas markets and sterling EURGBP= skidded to its lowest since Nov. 2 at 90.48 pence per euro after the British central bank kept rates at a record low and cut its forecasts for growth and wages due to Brexit uncertainty.
The weaker growth outlook bolstered expectations the BoE will be less likely to raise interest rates in the near future. FTSE notched its biggest daily percentage gain since July 12. STOXX 600 .STOXX recovered from early falls to nudge into positive territory, gaining 0.1 percent. Markets in Italy .FTMIB , up 1.02 percent, and France FCHI , up 0.5 percent, advanced although German stocks dipped .GDAXI by 0.2 percent. other upbeat news, retail sales in the euro zone increased by 0.5 percent in June on the month, well above market expectations of a 0.1 percent rise. pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 rose 0.12 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed 0.19 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 3.24 points, or 0.01 percent, to 22,019.48, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 5.8 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,471.77 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 18.56 points, or 0.29 percent, to 6,344.08. Treasury yields fell to more than one-week lows in the wake of the BoE announcement. Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 6/32 in price to yield 2.2407 percent, from 2.262 percent late on Wednesday. labor market data showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, a positive factor that may keep the Federal Reserve on course to announce plans next month to start reducing its massive bond portfolio. claims data, however, has no bearing on July's employment report, which is scheduled to be released on Friday, as it falls outside the survey period.
The U.S. dollar held near 15-month lows, after briefly losing ground against a basket of major currencies after weaker-than-expected U.S. services sector data worried investors ahead of the jobs data and stoked doubts that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates again in 2017. dollar index .DXY rose 0.04 percent, with the euro EUR= up 0.07 percent to $1.1862. Sterling GBP= was last trading at $1.3124, down 0.73 percent against the dollar on the day.
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http://reut.rs/1WAiOSC Global currencies vs. dollar
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh Global bonds dashboard
http://tmsnrt.rs/2fPTds0 Emerging markets in 2017
http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
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