GLOBAL MARKETS-Share rally peters out, euro lifted by PMI boost

* Wall Street edges lower after six-day S&P rally

* U.S. bond yields dip on weak U.S. data

* Brent oil slips to $109 as U.S. oil inventories hit record

(Adds opening of U.S. markets, byline; dateline previously

LONDON)

By Herbert Lash

NEW YORK (Frankfurt: HX6.F - news) , April 23 (Reuters) - Global equity markets edged

lower on Wednesday after five days of gains after disappointing

U.S. housing data and as corporate earnings were not strong

enough to sustain a rally, while the price of government debt

rose as investors favored safety.

In Europe, rising worries over Ukraine also weighed,

offsetting data that showed Germany continued to power the euro

zone's recovery, though France's economy was still lagging in

April.

Europe's private sector started the second quarter on its

strongest footing in nearly three years, according to purchasing

managers' index for the euro zone, although new orders were

again mainly buoyed by price cuts.

But the pace of U.S. growth slowed in April, even as factory

activity continued to expand, and sales of new U.S.

single-family homes tumbled to their lowest level in eight

months in March, dealing a setback to the housing market

recovery.

Strong results from Boeing (NYSE: BA - news) failed to inspire Wall

Street investors to keep pushing equities higher. The S&P 500 on

Tuesday had marked a sixth straight session of gains.

"As (U.S.) equities underperform, this leads to buying of

Treasuries and yields fall. The dollar is softer as a result

because it is reflecting other markets rather than internal

components," said Sebastian Galy, senior currency strategist at

Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) in New York.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was

last up 10/32 in price to yield 2.6896 percent.

MSCI (NYSE: MSCI - news) 's all-country world stock index, a

measure of global stock portfolios, fell 0.13 percent. In

Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading regional

shares, was down 0.45 percent at 1,340.52.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 5.86 points or

0.04 percent, to 16,508.51. The S&P 500 lost 1.12 points,

or 0.06 percent, to 1,878.43, and the Nasdaq Composite

dropped 17.061 points, or 0.41 percent, to 4,144.397.

Corporate earnings were mixed, though companies have largely

been beating reduced forecasts.

Shares in Ericsson (Xetra: ERCA.DE - news) , the Swedish mobile telecom

equipment maker, fell 7.1 percent, trimming the most points off

of the FTSEurofirst 300, after the company's first-quarter sales

and profit came in below analysts' forecasts. The results were

hit by weak trading in North America.

Boeing Co reported first-quarter revenue that beat

expectations and lifted its core earnings forecast to reflect a

tax settlement gain, sending shares up 1.94 percent to $130.02.

But fellow Dow component AT&T Inc (NYSE: T - news) fell 3.1 percent to

$35.17 a day after its results.

U.S. Treasuries prices rose after the weak economic data

spurred safe-haven bids and traders covered short positions

against bonds following a recent sell-off.

"You cannot continue to attribute this weakness in the

economy to the weather and that's why people were a little

surprised," said Stanley Sun, interest rate strategist at Nomura

Securities International in New York.

The dollar slipped against the euro and yen

. Its value against a basket of currencies fell

to its lowest level in a week.

The euro rose 0.16 percent to $1.3825.

Against the yen, the dollar fell 0.22 percent to

102.37 yen.

Brent oil fell after weekly data showed U.S. crude

inventories hit a record high, though prices found some support

from the unfolding crisis in Ukraine. U.S. crude oil stocks

jumped 3.5 million barrels to 397.6 million barrels last week,

the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.

Brent crude for June delivery reversed slight gains

after the EIA data to trade 29 cents lower at $109.04 a barrel.

U.S. crude for June delivery fell 9 cents to $101.666

a barrel.

(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Additional reporting by Marc Jones

in London; Editing by Leslie Adler)