GLOBAL MARKETS-Stronger U.S. data spurs world shares, yen falls

* Strong U.S. data lift world share markets

* U.S. Thanksgiving holiday limits activity

* Nikkei jumps 1.8 pct, Germany's DAX sets record

* Yen hits 6-month low vs dollar, 4-1/2 year low v euro

* Euro boosted by firmer than forecast inflation data

By Marc Jones

LONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - World shares edged toward six-year highs on Thursday and the yen languished at long-term lows against the euro and dollar after a batch of strong U.S. economic data.

The signs of a strengthening U.S. jobs market and more cheerful consumers had spurred Wall Street to a record close on Wednesday, while reinforcing talk that the Federal Reserve could start scaling back its monetary stimulus, which supported the dollar.

Japan's Nikkei hit its highest in nearly six years while in Europe, Germany's DAX touched an all-time high to lead the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index towards a third straight month of gains.

"Our stance for quite a while has been pretty optimistic on equities and that is where we continue to stay," said Sybren Brouwer, head of equity strategy at ABN Amro.

"There could be some risk of losing momentum or even a small correction, but over the longer term the outlook remains strong."

The share gains came despite the latest euro zone data, showing bank lending to firms fell 2.1 percent in October, equalling the biggest fall on record.

Shares in Britain's housebuilders also fell sharply, with more than 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) wiped off their value at one point after the Bank of England unexpectedly scaled back a scheme that has been driving up mortgage lending over the last year.

Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV.L - news) , Britain's biggest housebuilder by volume, had tumbled almost 10 percent at one stage while Persimmon (Frankfurt: OHP.F - news) , largest by market value, ended down 6 percent as the FTSE 100 lagged its euro peers.

MSCI (NYSE: MSCI - news) 's world equity index, which tracks share moves across 45 countries, barely flinched though and a 0.25 percent gain took it closer to its best level since the start of 2008 .

DOLLAR DEMAND

U.S. stock and bond markets were closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday, meaning trading was lighter than usual.

The dollar popped above 102.00 yen for the first time since May 29, but the euro maintained its grip on $1.36 as an acceleration in German inflation trumped the weak ECB lending data.

Markets were caught out last month after euro zone inflation plunged to just 0.7 percent and the ECB reacted by cutting rates. On Friday analysts will get the latest reading with most now expecting a modest rebound.

"The German CPI data jumped quite significantly so that has the potential to feed through to the euro zone inflation number tomorrow," said Morgan Stanley (Xetra: DWD.DE - news) 's head of European FX strategy, Ian Stannard.

"Heading into the year end we wouldn't be surprised to see the euro holding up as we are likely to see some repatriation (of euros) from the banks. That's because the year end is when the ECB takes its snapshot of banks' balance sheets for its Asset Quality Review," he added.

With the yen already on the back foot, the euro's momentum took it past 139 yen for the first time since June 2009.

So far this month, both the euro and dollar are up nearly 4 percent on the yen, which investors have been selling to raise funds for buy higher-yielding assets as the Bank of Japan remains committed to keeping monetary policy ultra-loose to shore up growth.

INFLATION CONCERN

The surging dollar also pressured commodity bloc currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars as well as many emerging market currencies with weak economic prospects.

The Indonesian rupiah went as low as 12,000 per dollar for the first time in nearly five years, while the Thai baht slid to its weakest level in 11 weeks.

European bond markets were little changed and focused on the outlook for inflation and its implications for the European Central Bank, which holds a policy meeting next week.

Alongside the stronger German numbers, Spanish inflation rose 0.3 percent year-on-year in November from zero in the previous month, fuelling expectations that Friday's overall euro zone inflation figures will come out at around 1 percent.

Among commodities, Brent crude slipped back below $111 a barrel as a bigger-than-expected rise in U.S. crude stockpiles offset the signs of economic recovery which would boost demand.

Gold gained 0.3 percent to about $1,244 an ounce, moving away from a four-month low of $1,227.34 hit on Monday, though the outlook remains weak.

"In view of the apparent improvement in the (U.S.) economy, investors are slowly pulling funds out of gold for better avenues of investment," said Phillip Futures analyst Joyce Liu.