GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar, U.S. stocks inch higher before Fed

* European stocks end down as Greek worries continue

* U.S. stocks climb; Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) reports strong earnings

* Dollar inches up ahead of Fed policy statement

(Updates with European stocks' close, adds details)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The dollar edged up against the

euro on Wednesday as investor focus turned toward the Federal

Reserve, which delivers a post-meeting statement later in the

day, while U.S. stocks climbed after strong earnings from Apple.

Worries that Greece's new government is heading for clashes

with the rest of the euro zone over its debts weighed on

European equities, while shares of Apple, which jumped 7.7

percent, boosted U.S. stocks.

Apple grabbed headlines after it late on Tuesday reported

the biggest quarterly profits in corporate history. Boeing

also jumped 6.2 percent after the release of its results.

Investor (Other OTC: IVSBF - news) skepticism is growing that the Fed will raise U.S.

interest rates by mid-year, as had been expected. Other major

central banks are easing aggressively, while a strong dollar and

slumping oil prices are driving down inflation and hurting

profits for some U.S. multinationals.

After the Fed's first two-day meeting of 2015, policymakers

are likely to restate their "patient" approach to raising rates

while voicing faith that the U.S. economy will continue

improving.

"People will be looking at the 'patient' language. I can't

imagine it will be changed," said Ian Lyngen, senior government

bond strategist at CRT (Shanghai: 600125.SS - news) in Stamford, Connecticut.

MSCI (NYSE: MSCI - news) 's global share index was off 0.1

percent while an index of European shares ended down

0.1 percent.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was

up 51.43 points, or 0.30 percent, at 17,438.64. The Standard &

Poor's 500 Index was up 2.75 points, or 0.14 percent, at

2,032.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 24.83

points, or 0.53 percent, at 4,706.33.

The euro fell 0.40 percent to $1.1325 on the EBS trading

platform. The dollar rose 0.14 percent to 0.90385

Swiss franc.

"The bottom line is that for the dollar to resume its upside

it needs to take a break. The U.S. stock market, which has been

supporting the dollar rally, is starting to struggle," said

David Woo, head of global rates and currency research at Bank of

America Merrill Lynch in New York.

Prices on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes

were up 10/32 to yield 1.7888 percent, according to Thomson

Reuters data. Shorter maturities were little changed.

The Singapore dollar skidded to its weakest in

nearly 4-1/2 years after the country's central bank eased

monetary policy unexpectedly, its first unscheduled change in

over a decade, ahead of a planned April meeting.

Singapore's central bank joins a growing list of

counterparts, from Denmark and Canada to Turkey and India, which

have made surprise moves in what is looking increasingly like a

global currency war.

Oil prices slipped after news U.S. stockpiles surged by

nearly 13 million barrels last week. Brent crude oil

fell 78 cents to $48.82 a barrel and U.S. crude futures

were down $1.36 at $44.87.

Gold eased as the dollar steadied. Spot gold was down

0.4 percent at $1,287.20 an ounce.

(Additional reporting by Marc Jones in London and Michael

Connor in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish and Dan Grebler)