* Weak US labor data helps U.S. bond prices
* Dollar under fire as policymakers meet in Washington
* Yen at 15-year high, euro flat versus greenback (Rewrites first paragraphs, adds comment, updates prices)
By Daniel Bases
NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar slid to a 15-year low versus the yen on Friday after a weak U.S. jobs report while Wall Street edged up on speculation of more Federal Reserve economic stimulus as policymakers in Washington seek to avoid a currency war.
U.S. government bond prices gained on a surprise 95,000 drop in U.S. non-farm payrolls last month, according to government data. But the expectation the Fed will pump more cash into the economy via quantitative easing raised inflation concerns. For details, see [ID:nN08205203].
"The twisted irony is, this should be perceived as a negative, but Wall Street is banking on heavy Fed involvement to help push stocks higher for the rest of the year," said Todd Schoenberger, managing director of Landcolt Trading LLC in Wilmington, Delaware.
"The result could be an increase in risk appetite for equities and a move away from 'safer' and tangible investments like Treasuries and gold," he said.
The weaker greenback spurred spot gold higher but not enough to match Thursday's record $1,364.60 per ounce, while oil prices rose. Global stock gauges also rose.
A brewing currency war has investors caught in a cross-fire while the world's finance ministers and central bankers meet in Washington to try work out a solution among themselves to soothe trade tensions and avoid scuttling a nascent global economic recovery with trade protectionism. [ID:nN07213765]
The officials are meeting for this weekend's International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting. [ID:nN07222462]
In midday trade, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 46.73 points, or 0.43 percent, at 10,995.31. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 4.88 points, or 0.42 percent, at 1,162.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> climbed 8.00 points, or 0.34 percent, at 2,391.67.
Shares of aluminum producer Alcoa Inc
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc
Mining stocks helped lift European shares to close the week on a positive note. The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares just managed a 0.01 percent rise to 1,070.67.
Heavyweight miners such as Rio Tinto
Banking stocks, however, resumed their four-week pullback,
with Barclays
MSCI's All-Country World index <.MIWD00000PUS> was 0.15 percent higher while the Thomson Reuters global stock index <.TRXFLDGLPU> rose 0.99 percent.
Japan's Nikkei stock index <.N225> fell 0.99 percent.
CURRENCY COUNTDOWN
The start of the Washington meetings has been dominated by the policymakers talking about taking measures to avoid a knock-down trade protectionist brawl.
At the heart of the matter is long hoped for global economic rebalancing and the ugly underside of 'beggar-thy-neighbor' tactics governments can employ to protect their export economies by keeping their currencies weak.
Japan, whose export-led but stagnant economy, has said it will continue to intervene to curb a strong yen if necessary. China has rebuffed calls from the West to let its currency rise faster but allowed it to firm on Friday to its highest against the dollar since a revaluation in July 2005.
The U.S. dollar fell 0.57 percent to 81.86 yen
Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of euro zone finance
ministers, said the euro exchange rate against the dollar was
too strong at $1.4000 as the dollar did not reflect U.S.
economic fundamentals. That prompted the euro to erase gains
against the dollar to trade down 0.08 percent at $1.3915
"Juncker has turned the market with comments about how he's not happy with the euro reaching $1.40,' said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon in New York.
"This adds to concern about competitive devaluations, particularly since foreign exchange will be discussed at official IMF meetings this weekend."
Concerns that a stronger euro
Bund futures pared losses after Friday's U.S. payrolls report, rising to 131.82 from 131.64 on Thursday.
The jobs data helped lift benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries
12/32 of a point in price, pushing the yield down to 2.34
percent
Spot gold prices
U.S. agricultural futures, including corn, soybean and wheat rose sharply in Chicago after the government estimated this year's harvest below expectations and forecast tight supply. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Gaunt, Brian Gorman, Chuck Mikolajczak, Nick Olivari, Vivianne Rodrigues, Steven C Johnson, Angela Moon)