GLOBAL MARKETS-Global stock index close to flat ahead of key central bank decisions, US data

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Equities little changed as investors pause ahead of big week

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Central banks including ECB, BOJ, BOE, Riksbank and Norges Bank due to meet

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Investors await delayed US data including jobs and inflation

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Bitcoin falls, oil down more than 1%

By Sin?ad Carew and Lawrence White

NEW YORK/ LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) -

MSCI's global equities gauge turned slightly higher while U.S. Treasury yields edged down as investors waited cautiously for the week's busy schedule of U.S. economic data releases including the jobs report and retail sales as well as the latest inflation reading.

U.S. stocks were making little progress in either direction after opening slightly higher following a slump on Friday amid concerns about inflation and a bubble in artificial intelligence shares. After digesting last week's update from the Federal Reserve, investors were turning their attention to economic data that was delayed by the U.S. government shutdown, including the jobs report for November and the monthly consumer price index (CPI) inflation report.

With traders already pricing in more rate cuts this year compared with Fed estimates for just one, R. Burns McKinney, portfolio manager at NFJ Investment Group said that investors are hoping for a jobs report that is weak enough to support more easing.

"This is the kind of market where investors are kind of hoping for softness. We're right back to where bad news is good news. You just don't want the bad news to be terribly bad. You want mildly bad news," said McKinney.

New York Fed President John Williams said on Monday the U.S. central bank's

interest rate cut

last week leaves it in a good position to deal with what lies ahead, adding that he sees inflation moderating amid cooling in the job market.

On

Wall Street

at

11:26 a.m.,

the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 6.24 points

, or

0.01

%, to

48,464.29

, the S&P 500

rose 8.96 points

, or

0.13

%, to

6,836.37

and the Nasdaq Composite

fell 0.18 points

, or

0.01

%, to

23,193.52

. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 1.21 points, or 0.12%, to 1,010.09. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.79% as investors returned to risk assets in a week packed with central bank decisions and economic data.

In

U.S. Treasuries

, yields dipped while investors waited for the last major economic releases for the year.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes

fell 2.6 basis points to

4.17

%, from

4.196

% late on

Friday while t

he 30-year bond yield

fell 2.5 basis points to

4.8333

%.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with Fed interest rate policy expectations,

fell 2.3 basis points to

3.508

%, from

3.531

% late on

Friday

.

CENTRAL BANK DECISIONS LOOM In currencies, the U.S. dollar weakened against rivals including the yen, euro and Swiss franc in a week packed with central bank decisions around the world and U.S. economic data.

Among the policy decisions due this week, the Bank of Japan is expected to hike rates by 25 basis points to 0.75%, while the Bank of England may make an equal-sized cut to 3.75%. The European Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates on hold, alongside Sweden's Riksbank and Norway's Norges Bank.

The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

fell 0.19%

to

98.23.

The euro was

up 0.17%

at $

1.176 and, a

gainst the Japanese yen , the dollar

weakened 0.36%

to

155.25

. Against the Swiss franc , the dollar

weakened 0.08%

to

0.795

.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin

fell 1.59%

to $

87,054.65

.

In energy markets,

o

il prices

fell

as investors balanced supply disruptions linked to escalating U.S.-Venezuelan tensions with oversupply concerns and the impact of a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal.

U.S. crude

fell 1.36% to

$

56.66

a barrel and Brent

fell to

$

60.38

per barrel,

down 1.21%

on the day.

In

precious metals

, spot gold rose to hover near a seven-week peak as it was bolstered by a softer dollar, while silver held below a record high hit.

Spot gold

fell 0.1%

to $

4,298.01

an ounce. U.S. gold futures were

flat

at $

4,300.00

an ounce.

(Reporting by Sin?ad Carew, Lawrence White, Gregor Stuart Hunter; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Sam Holmes, Louise Heavens, Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)