* Stocks waver on poor reading of U.S. consumer sentiment
* Dollar gains vs euro, flat against yen on risk aversion
* U.S., German bond prices rise after downbeat U.S. data
* Oil slips below $74 a barrel after consumer sentiment (Adds close of European markets)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Global stocks wavered and oil prices sank on Friday after a worsening U.S. consumer sentiment reading pricked optimism over upbeat results and outlooks from technology bellwethers Oracle and Research in Motion.
The dollar gained against the euro but was flat against the yen as U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly weakened in early September to its lowest level in more than a year. The sentiment reading boosted risk aversion following currency market intervention by the Bank of Japan on Wednesday to weaken the yen. For details see: [ID:nN17262425]
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary September reading on consumer sentiment fell to 66.6 from 68.9 in August. [ID:nN17137976] The median forecast among economists polled by Reuters was 70.0.
"I'm not surprised to see the market struggling a bit on this," Matthew Strauss, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto, said of the consumer sentiment report. "It plays into the uncertainties about what a sustainable recovery would look like."
Major stock indexes meandered around break-even.
MSCI's all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS> was up about 0.1 percent shortly after midday.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 2.65 points, or 0.03 percent, at 10,592.18. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 0.06 point, or 0.01 percent, at 1,124.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 8.96 points, or 0.39 percent, at 2,312.21.
Wall Street opened sharply higher, with the benchmark S&P
500 Index breaking through a June 21 intraday high after
bellwethers Oracle Corp
No. 3 software maker Oracle jumped 7.1 percent to $27.16, while BlackBerry maker RIM rose .19 percent to $47.38.
The S&P managed briefly to overcome key technical resistance around 1,130, a level that has represented the top of a trading range for months. Analysts said a decisive move above that threshold would be a bullish sign.
"It's the top end of the range, it's a good place to take profits and I think that's what we saw happen in Friday trade," said Nick Kalivas, an analyst at MF Global in Chicago.
European shares fell as confidence was stung by the U.S. consumer sentiment data and banking shares traded lower on renewed worries over the euro zone's fiscal health.
Banks were among the decliners after the Irish Independent newspaper said Ireland was "perilously close" to calling in the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top shares closed 0.3 percent lower at 1,072.87, ending at its lowest closing level in more than a week.
Allied Irish Banks
German government bond prices outperformed euro zone peripheral debt and the Irish/German spread widened to a euro lifetime peak on persistent worries about funding Ireland's banking sector. [ID:nLDE68G1O0]
U.S. government securities prices advanced as the weak consumer sentiment data and European sovereign debt concerns enhanced the allure of safe-haven government debt. [ID:nN17385197] [ID:nLDE68G1J5]
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note
U.S. light sweet crude oil
In currencies, the dollar was up against a basket of major currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> up 0.16 percent at 81.368.
The euro
Copper rose to a 4-1/2 month high as falling inventories and reassuring comments from China's central bank on monetary policy boosted industrial metals. [ID:nLDE68G0SH]
Spot gold prices
Overnight in Asia, the Nikkei share average <.N225> rose 1.2 percent, capping a 4.2 percent gain for the week that was the biggest weekly advance since December 2009, after intervention in the yen brightened the prospects of exporters.
MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.2 percent <.MIAPJ0000PUS>. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr, Nick Olivari and Ellen Freilich in New York; Marie-Louise Gumuchian, George Matlock, Melanie Burton and Michael Taylor in London; Writing by Herbert Lash; Editing by Dan Grebler)